The Witch's Angel

by Arissa L. Utemark

“It’s okay.” Luke eased, moving forward slowly. “You’re safe now. It’s okay, I promise.”

  Luke saw Danny shake her head, more tears slipping down her cheeks.

  “No…no, it’s not…it’s not okay.” She admitted, a waver in her voice. Luke felt his heart clench and the missing part of him that he lived with for so long make his chest ache.

  “Then we’ll make it okay, alright?” Luke reassured firmly, reaching forward to offer her his hand. “You just have to trust me.”

  She looked at him hesitantly for a moment before she nodded and took his offered hand, wrapping her long fingers around his.

  Luke felt a tingle on her soft, warm skin.

  A pure white light flashed from where they touched, illuminating Danny and Luke’s shocked faces.

  Chapter 14

  The invigoratingly cool rush spread through me when we touched.

  I heard the Luke’s surprised gasp and I looked up at him, seeing him as if for the first time. His hand was warm in my grasp, his vividly blue eyes wide and staring as his knees hit the pavement in front of me. His full, pink lips were parted in surprise, his handsome face slack as the pulsing energy faded from view, but still crackled in the air between us. I couldn’t believe it.

  Finally…

  Here was…

  I had finally found…

  “Fuck!” I shouted, startling his hand away from mine, breaking our connection, leaving bubbly tingles behind on my skin. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  “What just happened?” Luke’s breath was knocked out of him as he stumbled backward and fell on his butt, staring at his hand like it was about to detach from his wrist and punch him in the face.

  “Now? Really?” I raged, ignoring his crisis for the moment in favor of my own. “Of all the fucking times this could have happened I had to find you now!?”

  “Find me?” Luke shook his head, attempting to clear it before catching sight of my face as my wounds began to knit together. My nose cleared and slid back into place painlessly as the bleeding stopped. My ribs re-aligned, the bones fusing back together and I gasped in the first deep breath I could take without pain in what seemed like forever. My vision cleared as the swelling went down, the injured tendons in my knee shrank and the pulsing throb calmed.

  “Wow. That’s pretty cool.” I said, giving the bridge of my nose a gentle pinch.

  “What…what just happened?” Luke’s eyes were unfocused and he started to sway a bit, as if unsteady, the sturdy strength of his limbs faltering. Goddamn it, he was born a human. His DNA was rewriting itself. His cells had to burn themselves from the inside out to make room for his dormant Angel biology.

  A process that is just about as fun as it sounds.

  “What do you mean ‘find me’?” Luke demanded with wobbling firmness. A muscle in his angular jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth trying to keep his concentration on me. “What did you just do to me?”

  He pitched forward and I scrambled over, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders to steady him, allowing the swooping happiness at finding him to overcome the blinding fear from the danger we were in for the brief moment he was in my arms.

  “This is going to be a rough trip for you.” I said as I helped him to sit against one of the brick walls of the alley. His eyebrows drew together, trying to make sense out of the situation with his cloudy brain as he rested his hands on my shoulders.

  “Are you threatening me?” Luke asked in alarm, fuzzily offended. I tried not to find it endearing.

  “Sssssss…sssssss…”

  I felt the blood drain from my recently healed face when I heard them. They were in the street outside the alley. I guess they’d followed Pat’s transport spell and found me. It wouldn’t be long before they caught my scent.

  “What was that?” Luke whispered, his eyelids getting heavier as I felt his hands grip my arms. Overwhelming terror crept up in me again. He’d be going through the change for the next few days at least. Vulnerable, helpless.

  The hissing got louder.

  “Wha the hell was ‘at…? Wh-whas…whas goin’ on?” Luke tried again, looking up at me.

  “Okay, I need you to listen to me, okay?” I started, desperately trying to keep my voice calm. “I’m gonna draw them away, okay? You’ll be safe.”

  “Draw them…?” Luke’s head toppled back seemingly without his permission and I had to catch it before he cracked his skull on the unforgiving brick wall behind him.

  “You got a friend? Anybody with you?” I asked him, leaning my head down to catch his gaze again. The shine of a detective’s badge clipped to his hip caught my eye. “Or partner? Where’s your partner?”

  “Carl…” Luke lifted a heavy arm and waved toward the direction of the house’s front porch. Ah, he must be waiting at the mouth of the alley. I gave a small sigh of relief to know I wasn’t leaving him entirely unprotected.

  “Carl. Okay.” I filed the information. “I’ll get him. He can help you.”

  My muscles tensed as I went to stumble to my feet, the knightmare’s hisses ringing in my ears, eager to get them away from my Angel.

  My Angel…

  Shit.

  I felt Luke’s hand wrap around my arm in a weak grip, catching my attention. He was going under fast.

  “Don’t…please…please don’t leave me.”

  I felt my heart twist as I looked into his wide, frightened eyes, partially hidden by fluttering lids. It shouldn’t have been like this. I allowed my hands to wrap around his jaw, cradling his head and I tried to push as much comforting energy into my touch as I could. I stroked my thumb along the rough stubble on his cheek.

  “I’m sorry. I have to keep you safe.” I breathed. “You just have to trust me, okay?”

  I felt Luke give the fragile nod more than I saw it, but the message came across.

  I don’t know why, but I trust you.

  His eyes flickered closed as he lost consciousness and I laid him gently to lean against the wall, giving his cheek one last caress.

  “I’ll see you soon.” I promised him before I turned toward the knightmares baring down on us.

  I finally found you. I’m not losing you now.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran toward the edge of the alley, reaching down briefly to rip a slab of wood from a palate that leaned against the brick wall. It was cheap lumber; far detached from the pure nature I usually looked for in wands. The energy I heaved from it was fragile compared to the power it could have been, but it got the job done as the knightmares that had began to crowd into the alley screeched their deaths, disintegrating under the might of my powers.

  “Harper?” I heard a gruff voice call.

  Luke Harper. Good to know.

  Carl turned out to be an older, portly man, waiting for me at the mouth of the alley with a flashlight in one hand, his gun in the other.

  “Stay where you are!” He ordered, bringing his gun up to point at me, cradling his flashlight under the barrel expertly.

  “Are you Carl?” I asked, just to be sure, trying to ignore the sound of the knightmares hissing as the second wave picked up my scent.

  “Yeah. I said stay still before I gotta…” Carl began.

  “Luke needs help.” I interrupted before he could get the threat out, trying to make my voice as confident as possible despite me standing in public dressed in my jammies. “Get him out of here.”

  Carl swung his flashlight over to where I was sure he could see Luke slumped against the wall of the alley. I felt a pang of sadness at leaving him like that.

  It shouldn’t have been like this.

  “Good god…” Carl breathed. I took his distraction as an opportunity to start running, drawing the knightmares away from the alley. I wasn’t sure if they could make out Luke’s smell yet, but I wasn’t about to take that chance.

  “Wait! Hey!” I heard Carl call after me before he spoke into what I assumed was a radio, “Dispatch! We have an officer down! Repeat: officer down. Suspect is fleeing on fo
ot…”

  His voice faded from my attention as I pushed myself to run faster, my bare feet pounding painfully against the pavement. The knightmares slithered after me, their bodies sticking briefly to the street like pitch black gum on a hot day before their angular tentacles pulled them along, lashing out at me. Their numbers were growing and even with Luke helping me out with my injuries, my strength wouldn’t last forever.

  Boy, I did not think this through.

  The whipping sound of something long and thin moving through the air was my only warning before I felt the cold burn of a knightmare’s tendril ripping into my side.

  I yelled a curse through my teeth and my steps faltered as I pulled enough power from my makeshift wand to kill it, vaporizing a few other ones for good measure.

  The distraction was enough for me to dive behind a dumpster, one hand over the wound in my side, the other over my mouth to try to get my breathing under control. I heard them slither past, the slimy sound of their bodies sliding against the pavement barely audible behind the pounding in my ears as I feverishly hoped they had lost my scent.

  I heard their hisses fade away and I had never been so thankful for a dumpster in my life as I took my hand off of my mouth, allowing the sound of my gulping gasps to escape. The back of my head hit the metal behind me with a dull thud.

  My warbling groan sounded flat to the darkness as I moved my hand from my side and allowed myself to look down at the damage. The gash wasn’t terrible, but it was bleeding freely and was ripe for infection if I didn’t get it taken care of in the near future.

  Just what I needed.

  I rolled over painfully and managed to get upright when I heard the whine of an ambulance. Luke’s partner must’ve called one for him. It screeched down the road I stood next to, and I managed to read Metropolitan Medical Center on the side as it sped by.

  That’s where I would find my Angel.

  The ambulance’s sirens faded into the distance, quickly replaced by the high-pitched whine of police cars approaching. I stumbled upright and made my way through the neighborhood, thankful for the cover of shadows, but keeping a careful eye out for what the darkness might possibly be hiding.

  Chapter 15

  The lights were blindingly bright, even behind the eyelids Luke had squeezed shut. Everything was too bright, too hot, too loud, too painful. He felt hands on him and he tried to jerk away when their touch burned his skin. His heart pounded and it felt like a tremendous burden just to get air into his lungs. He felt a cold sweat break out onto his skin as he heard a pained groan escape his lips.

  “Get some ice in here! Now! We need to cool this guy off!”

  The worst part was the dreams.

  Brutal battles flashed across his vision, images of violence and blood, images of the good falling at the hands of the evil, images of hopelessness in the heat of an ageless war.

  Images of a Scream.

  “Calm him down! He’s going to hurt himself!”

  The hands were back, stronger and in greater number, holding him down. He shouted and fought, trying desperately to escape them, to escape the all-encompassing pain, the burning.

  “Get me a sedative!”

  His bones…his bones were moving, crunching and writhing beneath his skin, crashing into each other and bending into new shapes, his body tormented by crushing agony. His own screams echoed in his ears. He couldn’t survive this. There was no way to survive this much pain.

  Danny…where…where was Danny…

  The thought of her cleared his mind, brought the white-hot torment of his changing bones down to a dull roar. He allowed himself to wrap around the thought of her, of the woman he didn’t know, the comfort from the nameless pain. He felt his body settle back into the soft surface he was lying on as his thoughts quieted enough for him to fall into a fitful sleep.

  Chapter 16

  I found a bench and sat.

  Just sat and existed.

  I could feel the cold pavement of the sidewalk under my bare feet, could feel the weathered wood of the park bench from where it dug into my thighs, could feel the soft cotton of my clothes against my skin, could feel the numbed, stabbing ache from the wound in my side, could feel the morning breeze as it ruffled my hair. I could smell the food cart not too far away as its owner began preparing for the day, could see the purples and reds of the sunrise behind me melt into oranges and yellows against the houses bordering the park, could hear the joggers trotting past.

  I took in all of these things, but I could not acknowledge them.

  It was like drowning in air.

  Mom…Theo…Patrick…

  Cale…

  Luke…

  How did all this happen?

  The Throne Room, my mother’s body, my brothers…my brother…

  No. I refused to believe it. I refused. It wasn’t real, a trick. All of this was a nightmare and I would have to wake up eventually. The kingdom would be safe, my family would be whole and everything would be back to normal.

  It was a bleak lie that just made me feel colder.

  The knightmares dragging me toward…the pain, Mom…Mom’s dead…I can’t…Cale couldn’t have…Mom’s dead and Cale killed her. He’s in the Beacon…he’s going to…Luke…he’s going to find Luke…Luke’s going to…I can’t…Theo…where…he’s not dead…he can’t be dead, too…What if I’m alone? I’m alone…I can’t…I can’t fix this…there’s too much…I can’t fix this…I can’t do this…

  My thoughts were a whirling fracture, like shards of glass in a tornado. My chest ached with the need for oxygen that wouldn’t come, my eyes clouded with tears and I squeezed them shut. They weren’t seeing anything anyway. My hands balled into fists as I struggled to breathe. Oh my god, I can’t breathe, I need to breathe!

  “Try to take some deep breaths, Sweetheart…”

  A soft touch on my knee brought my attention back from the swirling cloud of gray I had been trapped in. At some point, I had curled my legs in front of me and wrapped my arms around my knees, squeezing them tightly. I let my grip relax a little and looked at who had spoken.

  Her hand rested lightly on my leg as she crouched in front of me. Her blonde shoulder-length hair was flecked with silver; her kind brown eyes steady on mine. She wore jeans and a soft looking flannel, rolled up to her elbows.

  “You can do it.” She murmured in a calm, steady voice highlighted with the hint of a southern drawl. “Take a breath, count to seven, then let it out. I promise it’ll get a little easier after that.”

  I tried to follow her instructions, grateful to have directions to lead me. She counted with me until my lungs felt like they were about to burst, then nodded encouragingly when I let the air escape from my lips in a heavy, stuttering rush.

  “That’s it. Again.” She directed. I followed her once more.

  My heart slowed down to something more manageable, my lungs filling to their capacity with air again. The world became a little brighter than I remember it being before. I wiped the dregs of tears from my eyes and met the gaze of my savior.

  “Good. That’s the way. Doesn’t that feel better?” She asked, smiling at me, taking her hand off my leg and letting it rest against her thigh.

  “Th-thank-“ I croaked, sniffing. The woman stopped me with a wave of her hand.

  “One of my students used to get panic attacks. You just gotta be patient with yourself, Sweetheart.” She answered.

  So that’s what that hellscape was.

  “Good advice.” I nodded, my voice still a little wobbly.

  “My name’s Grace.” She told me. She turned around and pointed to a small, well-kept two-story house across street from the park bench where I sat. “That’s where I live. Who might you be?”

  “D-Danny. My name’s Danny.” I cleared my throat as I unfolded my legs. Grace’s calm face transformed into one of abject horror when she caught sight of my stomach.

  Ah, the gut wound. I forgot about that.

  “Oh, my god!” G
race breathed, reaching toward the bloody patch in my tank top. I flinched away from her and she retreated carefully. “Where did you get that?”

  “It’s old.” I lied. She glanced up at my face and I could tell she didn’t believe me.

  “Honey, we need to get you to a hospital.”

  My mind flashed to the trail of bodies that lay behind me from the last twelve hours.

  “No!” I shouted loud enough for Grace to jump, which immediately made me feel awful. “I’m sorry. I meant…no, I’m fine. N-no hospitals. I-I’m fine.”

  Grace’s face grew pinched and sad.

  “Danny…there’s no shame in asking for some help now and again.” She took my hand and held it between both of hers and I knew she could probably feel it shaking. The gesture was excruciatingly comforting, but I knew I had to keep moving. The thought of someone like her getting attacked and consumed by knightmares was just a bit more than I could bear at the moment.

  “I…I have to go…” I stood on shaky legs and she got to her feet much more gracefully.

  “Wait, wait, wait.” She stopped me with two hands held in front of her. I stopped, really hoping she wasn’t going to make me go to the hospital, where the knightmares would definitely be able to find me and a lot of people would die. Including Grace.

  That felt acutely unacceptable after the night that I had.

  “If you’re not going to go to the hospital, at least take these.” Grace said, picking up a reusable shopping bag from the ground next to her and pushing it into my hands. I looked inside and saw there was a change of clothes, an old army jacket, sneakers, a packet of tin foil that smelled deliciously like breakfast food, and a wrinkled twenty-dollar bill.

  “Can’t go running around in that, you’ll catch pneumonia.” Grace gestured to my pajamas. “My niece gave these to me to donate before she left for college, but I think you could use ‘em. They look ‘bout your size.”

  I felt my throat close up with emotion and I choked back the tears. If I cried, I got the feeling she would never let me leave and I wasn’t altogether sure I would want to.

  “Th-thank…” I cleared my throat. “Why are you…why are you helping me?”