by C. L. Coffey
“I guess it’s time to find out how many humans,” Joshua muttered as the blue container was placed on the truck and the chains released. Joshua took his gun and fired two rounds into the air. From the other end of the dock, two more shots rang out. Only two of the crew reacted, tearing into the maze of stacked containers, seeking cover.
I’d guessed right: ten nephilim or Fallen remained, along with the two guards and the driver. All of them had weapons. The driver and the two guards produced swords, their blades growing to full length shining in the floodlights: Fallen.
I sat up, took aim, and fired. The arrow found its mark and the guard by the truck dropped to the floor. I sought out the driver and was surprised to find he was running out into the open. Then there was an explosion – like someone had burst a balloon… if the balloon was the size of one of the storage containers. The air blast dinted the metal side of the container the guard had been slumped against, and was powerful enough to not only send the truck rocking, but also the pile of containers we were on. There was no trace of the guard left. That was what had happened to Valac?
There was another pop and a shockwave blasted out across the dock as Cupid took another of the Fallen out. This one hit the ship and it rocked back and forth, the containers on it knocking angrily against each other.
I returned my attention to the driver trying to find him. I kept my arrow nocked, as I sought out any part of him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Then a gunshot rang out. I screamed as the bullet hit my arm. Joshua grabbed me, pulling me down as more shots rang out around us. The bullets either sailed over us, or ricocheted off the container like metallic rain.
I was grateful we were lying flat as the dizziness washed over me. It hadn’t been this painful the last time I had been shot. “Damnit,” I moaned.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
One Down
“Angel, where are you hit?” Joshua hissed at me.
“I shouldn’t have screamed. It just confirmed where we were,” I grunted, slamming my fist against the container’s roof in frustration.
“Where are you hit?” Joshua repeated again, more urgently this time.
I registered what he was saying. “My arm,” I responded. Before I could stop him, he had rolled over the top of me so he was on his stomach, lying next to my left arm. “What are you doing?” I snapped as more bullets went sailing over us. I could feel him prodding at the wound and I couldn’t help but suck in a pained breath.
“It’s just a graze,” he assured me.
I slammed my fist against the roof again. Guns. Why hadn’t I considered guns? Of course there would be guns: this was America. If someone was going to rob them, they wouldn’t do it with swords. At least Joshua was wearing a bulletproof vest.
“DAMNIT!” I bellowed into the sky as I hit the container once more.
“Angel!” Joshua cried, shocked.
That was it. I was not about to let us remain targets anymore. I turned my head to look at Joshua. “I need you to stay here,” I said, firmly.
“Angel,” he repeated again, sterner this time.
“No,” I told him. “You. Are. Staying. Here. I don’t care how pissed at me you are later; you can be pissed but you’ll also be alive. You are staying here until it’s safe to get down. So stay low,” the last words came out as a growl.
I didn’t give him any chance to respond. I grabbed my bow, rolled over him to the edge, and dropped off. The angle of the containers offered a little shelter towards the far end and I scurried over, keeping low, until I could safely jump off the six-meter drop of the remaining two containers. Carefully, I peered around the edge of the container.
The shooter was about twenty meters away, but there was no shelter between me and him. I knew Cupid could take him out from that distance, and so could I, but I understood his reluctance. Two men had gone running, but that didn’t mean the rest were human – men would do anything for the right price, and he was using a gun.
“Cupid, we need to take this guy with the gun out. Do you think you can do it without killing him?”
“No,” Cupid returned. “He’s moving about too much. I don’t want to risk it.”
If Cupid wasn’t going to take the shot, I certainly wasn’t. “Get two of the cherubim on him – one on each side, at the same time,” I quickly instructed. Bullets wouldn’t hurt them, and if they were quick….
Two cherubs suddenly appeared either side as instructed. With one quick move, the gun had been removed, while the other wrapped his arm around the guy’s throat. It took moments for the chokehold to do its job and the guy was lowered harmlessly to the ground.
That was when hell broke loose.
The remaining cherubim all suddenly appeared, swords drawn, and started attacking the remaining dock workers. I didn’t have chance to work out who was fighting who as something came charging up behind me with an almighty roar. I turned, ducking and using my bow to block the blow aimed at my head. Whatever tree they’d taken wood from to carve the bow, it withstood being chopped in two, instead sending the sword scraping along the top. I pulled my own sword from my pocket, discarding the bow so I could wrap both hands around the handle, and swung.
It was the driver. So much for Garret and Dion taking him out. My attack was blocked, but I tried again, and again. Then he went in for the attack. Somehow, while managing to block and avoid his sword, my brain reminded me of what happened to the Fallen when they were killed. This close to the container Joshua was on put him at an even greater risk. He and Leon were not safe here.
“Cupid? Are you free?”
“I can’t get an aim on anyone,” Cupid responded.
I ducked out of the way of the driver’s sword, dropping and rolling so I could swing at his back. He was too quick and blocked the attack. “You need to get Joshua and Leon out of here. It’s too risky. If we kill any of the Fallen, these containers could go anywhere.” As if the driver wanted to emphasize that point, he rushed at me, somehow grabbed my free arm, and flung me back against the side of the container. The tower above me wobbled precariously.
The throw – or more aptly – the landing, had smacked my head against the metal. My vision was spotted and I barely saw the sword in time as the driver swung at me. I ducked just as the sword scraped along the metal, creating a long gouge. It also caused his sword to catch.
Before I could think about what I was doing, I rammed my sword through the driver’s ribs. He fell limp and I had to jerk my sword free of his body. At that point, the horror flooded me. “Cupid!” I screamed as I took off running away from the body. “Tell me you got Joshua out of here.”
If he responded, I didn’t hear him as the body of the fallen angel exploded, the force sending the containers crashing down. The only reason I wasn’t crushed was because the blast sent me flying forwards, straight for the concrete ground. My arms bore the worst of the damage. The jeans had done the job.
“Angel!” Cupid cried, appearing beside me to help me to my feet.
“Joshua!” I demanded, before he could.
“He’s at the convent,” he assured me. “He’s not happy, but he’s safe.”
I glanced behind him at the crumpled metal, the contents spilling out everywhere, and allowed the relief to consume me. “Thank God,” I muttered. I glanced down at my arms – they were a mess, but they weren’t hurting as much as I figured they should be. “Leon?” I suddenly realized.
“I’m going to find him now,” Cupid said, before disappearing.
I sucked in another breath and tightened the grip on my sword. There was a cherub – Dion, locked in battle with someone, and he looked to be struggling. As I grew close, I could see why. He wasn’t moving his feet and he was barely finding the strength the block the fists punching him. Thankfully there were no swords involved, but I could see Dion wasn’t going to take much more.
I forced my feet to move quicker and when close, threw myself at Dion’s attacker. The resounding, unexpected slam against
the container knocked him out. “Dion, are you okay?” I asked turning my attention to the cherub.
“It’s a trap,” he said, weakly. “I think it’s the steel: I can’t get free of it.”
I looked down and found, embedded in the ground, a concrete square, the sides made of thick steel rungs sunk so they were flush. I looked to him, hoping my panic wasn’t showing anywhere near as close to what I was feeling. “We’ll get you out of here. I’ll stay here and make sure no one attacks.”
“Don’t you have a charge?” he asked.
“He’s safe. You’re my priority now,” I promised him.
“Huh,” he grunted.
I pursed my lips. “Not expecting that?”
“No,” he admitted. “Michael wouldn’t have stayed. He would be over there, trying to stop all the Fallen.”
“I’m not Michael,” I pointed out, keeping my attention on Dion and not the fighting. The truth was, if I did see someone else needing assistance, I might end up tempted to go help, but I wasn’t going to leave Dion in a vulnerable position. “And you can’t say what he would or wouldn’t do if he’s not here. I’m-”
“Watch out!” he cried.
I lunged to the side before I could get shoved into the trap, and twisted mid-fall to stab at my attacker. The guy who had been unconscious was not so unconscious anymore. He slumped back to the ground, falling off the edge of my sword. I stared in dismay – I hadn’t established if he was human or not!
“Run,” Dion ordered.
I stared blankly at him.
“He’s a fallen angel. Run!” he commanded, more forcefully this time.
My brain kicked into gear. “You-”
“RUN!” he screamed.
I did as he said. Before I could figure out what was happening around me, I was sent flying again as the body exploded behind me. This time, heat engulfed me as whatever was in the container went up in flames. The creaking that followed sent another wave of terror through me. I pulled myself upright and looked to the ship. The explosion had hit the ship at such a point that it had jolted backwards, sending the containers screeching across the deck. “CUPID GET THE CHERUBIM EVACUATING THAT SHIP!” I screamed.
I could see men on the deck disappearing in quick succession but I wasn’t sure they were going to be quick enough as the ropes holding the ship snapped the vessel back towards the dock. The noise as the containers squealed back across the deck, then fell to the ground was deafening. More went sliding across the dock, like dominos falling everywhere.
I watched in horror as the ship tipped past the point of balance and onto its side. “Please don’t let anyone be on there,” I begged. “Please let them have gotten off.”
I dragged myself to my feet and started to run to the devastation, when someone shot past me in the opposite direction. I don’t know what made me look twice, but I slowed to a jog and glanced back. I didn’t recognize him and he was heading straight for the truck.
“Not on my watch,” I grunted, changing direction. I bolted after him. Unlike the driver who had come at me, I didn’t charge with a battle cry. Honestly, I didn’t have the energy, but it was probably my silence that allowed me to run my sword straight through him.
I had just managed to withdraw my sword when he exploded, and for the third time that night, I found myself flying backwards.
I didn’t bother trying to get up. Whatever energy I’d had was gone. I just stared up at the sky, the stars in the clear night barely visible thanks to the floodlights above me. I was contemplating staying there, but then I heard the sirens in the distance. The truck. We needed to get to the truck.
I don’t know how I managed to get to my feet. I don’t even know how I was still holding onto my sword. I do know that every step to the truck seemed to cause pain in so many places, I couldn’t bring myself to work out what I’d injured. Instead I focused on the blue container which was somehow still standing, intact, on the back of an undamaged truck.
I got to the back of it and yanked the container door open. “Cupid, I need someone who can drive a truck,” I requested, my thoughts sounding as exhausted as I was.
Garret was at my side. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “How are you still standing?”
“I’m tougher than I look,” I managed weakly, unable to make a shrug to accompany the statement. “What’s in there?” I asked him instead. “What was worth all this?”
Garret jumped up. “Not electrical equipment,” he called down. Scoring his sword along the side of one of the boxes, he opened one. “You have got to be kidding me!”
“What is it?” I asked.
“CDs,” he replied. He held a handful up. I couldn’t make out the cover, but they all looked to be copies of the same album.
There was no way I was going to be able to get in there. “Maybe it’s hidden further in,” I suggested. “Hiding behind the CDs.”
There was some shuffling as boxes were moved around, followed by more cries of frustration. “Posters, badges, more CDs. Angel, it’s all junk.” Garret reappeared in front of me looking royally pissed off. “This was a waste of time.”
“No,” I disagreed, firmly. “Look at this place: it’s a disaster, and it’s only this way because there were Fallen and nephilim crawling all over. Maybe it wasn’t this container, or maybe the thing is too small to notice right now, but this was not for nothing.”
“Well what do we do now?” he asked me, unconvinced.
I glanced behind him. The sirens were getting closer. “We don’t have time to find out. We need to destroy this container and hope that if whatever was so important to Asmodeus wasn’t in there, that that,” I pointed at the upturned ship, “Destroyed everything instead.”
“How?” Garret asked.
This time I did manage a shrug. “Drive the truck into the river.”
Garret reached up, slammed the container door shut, and then vanished. The next thing I knew, the engine was being fired up and the truck was hurtling towards the edge of the dock and the inky water below.
Just in time too, as a car squealed to a halt near me. I expected the police, so I didn’t turn. I just shrunk my sword to dagger size and slipped it into my pocket.
That was my biggest mistake of the evening.
Footsteps approached me, but I still didn’t turn. I needed to make sure Garret succeeded in destroying that container, and instead I watched the truck sail over the edge of the dock. Then I heard Cupid. “ANGEL, LOOK OUT!”
I whirled around, just as a fist clobbered the side of my head. Somehow it didn’t knock me out, but it did send me careering to the ground. I reached for the sword, only just getting it out when a foot connected with my hand. I let out a yelp of pain as the sword went skittering across the ground.
I was going to scurry after it, but it dawned on me that was what my attacker would probably be expecting me to do. Instead, I lunged to the side, rolling, and using the momentum to get to my feet so I could spin around. It worked – I managed to stand – and I found myself face to face with Asmodeus.
“Where’s that charge of yours?” he asked me, rolling up the sleeves to the bright purple shirt he was wearing.
“Nowhere near here,” I assured him, curling my hands into fists.
“Good,” Asmodeus grinned. “That means I can kill you without risking hurting him.”
“You can try,” I ground out. Determination and anger were replacing the pain and aching muscles. Or maybe it was the adrenaline. Either way, one of us would be walking away from this fight and, for Joshua’s sake, I was going to do everything I could to make sure it was me.
Asmodeus had thousands and thousands of years on me, which meant he was way more skilled and experienced. My strategy was going to be to get him to wear himself out while I tried to retain as much energy as possible. Then he lunged for me, and all planning went out of the metaphorical window.
He was quick. I managed to jump out of the way, but before I could turn and keep him in front of me, hi
s fist caught me in the kidney. I fell to my knees, clutching at my side with one hand as nausea washed over me like a tsunami.
“I don’t understand why they recruit things like you,” Asmodeus mused as he sauntered over to me. “You’re nothing more than cannon fodder. It’s not even a challenge.”
While he was busy insulting me, I grabbed at the ground, scooping up a handful of dirt and gravel, and then I threw it at his face. Enough went in his eyes to allow me to jump up and give him an uppercut which sent him flying backwards. I didn’t give him time to get up further than his knees. I kicked, aiming for his face. I was fighting dirty and I didn’t give a damn.
As I went in for the second kick, his hand shot out and grabbed my foot. Before I could react, he had twisted, sending me face first into the ground. I only just managed to get my hands out in time to stop my head hitting the dirt. The next thing I knew, he was towering above me kicking me in the side again. It was all I could do to curl up into a fetal position and try to fend off some of his attacks. This was it: this was how I was going to die, for real.
Then, they stopped.
I lay there, dazed and unable to think clearly. I hurt all over, and I could barely see through the dots that were swimming in my vision. As I struggled to find the strength to get to my feet, two of Asmodeus’ faces appeared above me. While I tried to make two become one, he pressed his foot against my throat and leaned down.
“You ruined my shirt, you little bitch,” he snarled at me. It was all I could do to try to push that foot off me as I clawed at his ankle. “I’m going to squish you like the insect that you are.”
The two heads were slowly fading out as Asmodeus stood. There was a moment of pressure, and then it was gone. I rolled over, coughing, spluttering, trying to get my lungs to fill even though the action hurt. Cupid was at my side then, helping me into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” he asked me.