The Witch's Angel

by Arissa L. Utemark

“Never.” Patrick choked, his vision beginning to clear, coming into sharp focus on Theo’s perfect face, on his relieved smile, on the tears shining in his eyes. He reached up with weak hands to grasp Theo’s waist. “Never.”

  Theo kissed him deeply again and Patrick felt Theo’s powers make his body even stronger. Theo crawled over him and began carefully examining his wings, keeping a comforting hand on the side of Patrick’s neck so the Angel would continue to heal.

  “Where’s Luke?” Theo asked as his eyes examined the metal pipe in Patrick’s wing. Patrick sobered from the euphoria from their reunion.

  “Talia…she…she took him to the Barrier.” Patrick told him breathlessly. Theo’s lips pressed in a grim line and Patrick knew they were thinking the same thing.

  Please, keep Danny safe.

  Chapter 35

  It felt like years since I’d been home.

  The Throne Room was near the top of the Beacon and I found myself darting down the corridors or our living space, where I had grown up. Memories of the past danced around me like ghosts. My father laughing as he held me on his shoulders running through the living room, the sound of something breaking because my brothers and I had been wrestling and gotten too rowdy, followed by my mother’s put-upon sigh that slowly formed our names.

  My mother holding me on her lap as we watched the stars at night.

  I pushed those thoughts away as I crept toward the Throne Room.

  But before I did that, I needed to make a rather unpleasant pit stop.

  I turned the corner into hallway that led to our bedrooms and ran on silent feet until I found mine, the door hanging off its hinges like the entrance to a haunted house. I paused at the threshold, the inside dark and full of terrible memories. I took a deep breath before taking a tentative step inside.

  The room was deathly quiet, but I could still hear the knightmares hissing as they had attacked me. I could see the small puddle of my blood still on the floor, the smear on the side of my bed, the handprint on the wall; all dulled to brown since I had left them there. The bed I knew I could never sleep in again was angled down to the floor from one missing leg on the frame.

  I kicked the skewed mattress out of my way as I stepped over to the bedside table. The drawer opened soundlessly and I reached in to pull out the long box inside.

  I opened the box my mother had given to me, wrapping my fingers around our family wand. She had been so sure I could lead our people, so proud of the woman I am, so confident I would be a good Queen.

  The wand’s power rushed up my arm and into my body as I sprinted from the room.

  Her faith in me would not be for nothing.

  Chapter 36

  Luke looked over at the firm set of Talia’s jaw as she pushed him along. He noticed the vein that throbbed in her forehead every time he stumbled and she had to pull him back to his feet, the weary bags under her eyes as she looked toward their destination, the slight tremble of her limbs.

  He knew fragile determination when he saw it.

  “Nothing?” Luke asked casually, knowing he had to work fast. “No Angelic camaraderie?”

  “Shut up.” Talia said.

  “You want this to happen?” Luke continued. “You want those things to have free reign here on Earth?”

  “It’s only to take power.” Talia explained shortly. “Cale will get rid of them when he’s King.”

  “Does that make sense to you at all?” Luke asked.

  “Shut up!” Talia shouted through her teeth.

  “He already has power.” Luke said. “Why would he want more of them here if he was just planning to get rid of them anyway?”

  “He wouldn’t keep them here.”

  “Right.”

  Talia shouted in frustration and shoved Luke against the side of the hallway. He winced as his cuffed hands were squished between his body and the wall. Talia slammed him into the wall again and stared at him intensely.

  “Do you think you know anything?” Talia hissed at him, her eyes wild. “What do you know about being an Angel? Your wings are still wet, Newborn.”

  “It’s not complicated.” Luke growled back.

  “Really? Everything’s so simple that you know for a fact what you would be willing to do for your Princess?” Talia asked him. Luke could feel the two fistfuls she had of his shirt trembling. “Because you should hold judgment until you really know the answer to that question.”

  Luke felt a bloom of heat in his chest. He knew exactly what he would be willing to do for Danny.

  “I would end the world for her.” Luke conceded, not bothering lie. “The thing is, she wouldn’t ask me to.”

  Talia’s eyebrows drew together, her teeth clenched.

  “That’s not what he’s doing!” Talia defended finally.

  “Do you know that?” Luke leaned into her as close as he could. ”Deep down, do you really believe in what he’s doing? He’s using you, he’s cut you off from everyone, and he’s made you hurt your family. Does any of that strike you as okay?”

  “He…he’s just…” Talia stumbled, clutching Luke’s shirt harder.

  “He may be your Prince.” Luke pressed on. “But you’re his Angel. I might not know exactly what that means yet, but I know it doesn’t mean following him blindly. You don’t deserve this.”

  “What if I do?” Talia said lowly. “He’s my…he’s my…”

  “You’re not supposed to make the people you love do these things.” Luke insisted firmly. “Just because it’s decided by destiny doesn’t mean people can’t abuse it.”

  Talia looked up at him, shaking with rage. She gave a frustrated shout, shoving him against the wall again, this time, sinking her nails into his flesh painfully. Luke flinched, turning his face away from the blows he was sure were going to start.

  But, instead of Talia’s rage, he felt the restraint around his chest and wings release, the buckles clicking together as the torturous device fell to the floor. He gasped in a deep breath and looked at Talia with wide eyes.

  “I love my husband.” She said hollowly, her gaze on the floor.

  “Yes.” Luke answered carefully, wary of the thin line he was treading.

  “I can’t allow him to do this.” Talia finally looked up at Luke.

  “Both of those things can be true at the same time.” Luke said.

  Talia breathed in once, as if centering herself.

  “Come on. We have to hurry.” Talia nodded, looking up at him.

  “Do you know where Danny is?” Luke turned around so that she could have access to the handcuffs.

  “No, but I can get you to the bunker.” Talia answered, working to open the lock on the restraints. “Princess Danielle had an evacuation plan down there. Cale doesn’t know about them, so there’s a good chance she’s with them.”

  “You knew about them?” Luke sighed with relief as he felt the handcuffs unlock and tumble to the ground with a clatter.

  “By accident.” Talia answered as they began to run toward the stairs. “The only person that had the full evacuation plan was Danny’s assistant.”

  Luke opened the door to the stairwell, poised to ask another question when a massive wave of energy sizzled past him and knocked Talia backward. She tumbled in an aerial summersault before she landed on her feet, squared up and ready to face whatever had attacked.

  Danny, her face twisted with fury, sprinted out of the stairwell, one hand grasping a wand, the other outstretched toward Talia, sending her back with another powerful spell.

  “Princess!” Talia shouted, spreading her wings and fending off yet another wave of energy.

  “Danny!” Luke shouted.

  Danny, however, didn’t appear to have heard, clenching her fist and turning her body, sending a flash of energy that picked Talia up off the floor and made her crash into the wall. Talia looked up when Danny approached, her eyes pleading.

  “Princess…” Talia began. Luke saw her pause, her eyes narrowing as she looked up at Danny. Talia’s eye
s grew wide, and then narrowed again, this time with anger. “You-!”

  Before Talia got a chance to finish, Danny threw a violent punch into Talia’s cheek and the Angel crumpled against the hallway.

  “Traitor.” Luke heard Danny hiss before he got up to her.

  “Danny!” Luke called breathlessly.

  “Thank Heaven you’re safe.” Danny smiled and wrapped her arms around Luke’s torso. Luke immediately pulled her against his chest without thinking about it, sighing in relief when he felt her body against his.

  “We were escaping.” Luke told her when they broke apart. “She was helping me.”

  “She-” Danny started before she was interrupted by a scream from the floor.

  “No!” Talia shouted, getting her feet under her and taking Danny down with a tackle to her legs.

  “What in the fuck is your problem?” Luke demanded. Talia wrestled with Danny, her teeth bared.

  “It’s…not…” Talia ground out. Danny shouted and threw an elbow against Talia’s head, knocking her unconscious again. Danny’s fist hit Talia’s face a few more times before Luke pulled her off of the Angel.

  “She was obviously about to trick you.” Danny gasped, straightening herself.

  Luke looked over at Danny, something in her voice telling him there was more to the story, but he didn’t particularly want to press it in their current situation. He was glad beyond words to see her again.

  “We have to get you out of here.” Luke told her. “Cale is still trying to kill you.”

  “I know.” Danny answered. “But something needs to be done first. I need your help.”

  “Name it.” Luke agreed immediately.

  Danny smiled at him and wrapped a hand around his waist over his t-shirt. He followed her back toward the Throne Room.

  Chapter 37

  Danny led Luke through some ornate double doors and into the grand Throne Room. He looked around at the decor in wonder. Even with the visible patches and damage the room held soaring majesty.

  “Is this it?” Luke breathed, his eyes still on the walls, inlaid with beautiful carvings. Luke recognized a few scenes from the Dawn Wars, a few of regal looking people that must be Danny’s ancestors, and even more images paying homage to the elements of Heaven and Earth. It was breathtaking.

  “Yes. This is the Royal Throne Room.” Danny confirmed, her arm still firm on his waist. She led him to the center of the room. “And this is where the Barrier is kept.”

  “What do you need me to do?” Luke asked.

  “Here.” Danny offered, smiling that smile again. “I’ll walk you through it.”

  Danny moved behind him, her hands rubbing along his t-shirt and over his wings before settling on his hips, gripping them. She leaned in close enough that he could feel her body heat through the material of his clothes, but still couldn’t feel the soothing warmth of her skin against his.

  “Spread your wings, Baby.” She whispered into the shell of his ear.

  Luke felt his eyebrows draw together as he opened his wings, feeling the still developing bones pop softly as they extended on either side of him. They felt poised, powerful. Ready.

  “Now, focus deep down inside of you.” Danny instructed softly in his ear. “The light that you find there. The power. Draw it up. Pull more in from the air around you.”

  Luke closed his eyes and pictured a waterfall inside of himself, collecting into a pool of light that pulsed with energy. He spread his arms and felt his wings shudder as they drew in the energy around them that matched the pool that he felt at his core. He breathed, almost full with the power.

  “Reach out with it.” Danny’s grounding voice was still behind him, whispering in his ear. “Feel the rift between this world and the next.”

  Luke pulled the power from inside and felt it throb with life under his clumsy commands. He pushed it forward and prodded at the air in front of them blindly until he found it; a long, weakened strip of reality, elastic under his touch, almost like a scar. It recoiled from his Heavenly energy.

  The wrinkle in Luke’s brow grew deeper as he concentrated. He wished Danny would touch him. The power was beginning to be too much.

  “I…I can feel it.” Luke murmured.

  “Good.” Danny cooed, running her finger across the very edge of his feathers. “You’re doing so good, Baby. Now…”

  Luke felt Danny’s smirk through the thin material of his shirt. He stood, breathlessly waiting for her next instruction, holding his energy against the Barrier like balancing with one foot on a tightrope over a cold freefall into nothing. He sank into the comfort of Danny’s voice behind him, letting her guide him through this strange new power that he now wielded.

  But…

  Why wouldn’t she touch him?

  Distantly, Luke heard the door explode open with a loud bang. He couldn’t lose focus to think about what it was. Couldn’t let this thoughts wonder. He had to…

  “Luke, no!” Danny’s voice called from across the room.

  Wait…

  “Open it.” The voice in his ear - now decidedly deeper and definitely not Danny’s - ordered him.

  Luke’s eyes flew open. He gasped as he lost his balance on the tightrope, feeling sick as his power surged forward against the rip.

  Chapter 38

  I felt a fury I had never imagined before surge through me when I saw Cale standing behind Luke, his hands around Luke’s waist, his lips against Luke’s ear…

  …touching Luke’s wings.

  That…that shit stain was touching my Angel wearing my face!

  At the sound of my shout, I saw the illusion melt off of my doppelganger’s body to reveal Cale, his stretchy, too-wide grin hovering over Luke’s shoulder as his cold eyes looked at me.

  I stretched my hand out toward him to blow him out of the side of the goddamn building.

  Cale quickly snaked his arm around Luke’s neck. My stomach sank as Cale kept Luke between his body and mine.

  “Now, now, Baby Queen.” Cale chanted patronizingly, looking at me as he kept Luke in a firm grip.

  “He can look like other people? He can look like other people?” Luke asked incredulously, his voice strained by the pressure on his throat, his eyes wide. “I can’t believe I fell for something like that!”

  “You’re not the first and you won’t be the last.” I answered without taking my eyes off Cale. “Are you okay?”

  “Do I look okay?” Luke shouted. “I just ended the fucking world!”

  “I meant besides that.”

  “Danny!”

  “Both of you shut up!” Cale barked, wrapping his hand around Luke’s throat, cutting off most of his hostage’s air with a gurgle. I paused for a moment in surprise, the sight of my brother acting so violently still so alien to me.

  That lasted for a split second.

  My anger shot white-hot through my body, I took a few steps toward him, gripping the wand behind my back and raising my hand toward him.

  “I wouldn’t do that.” Cale taunted, running the side of his face against Luke’s “I might lose my grip.”

  “Boy, I sure hope so.” I growled.

  “Oh, you really don’t.”

  “Danny…run…” Luke choked.

  A sound like cracking ice broke the tense silence of the room, centered around where the Barrier was located. Tiny fissures started appearing in the middle of the room, fracturing the light around us. The sound grew in intensity while the cracks clustered together until they formed a bulging line.

  The Barrier split open with a shrieking howl of wind.

  The explosion knocked me backward through the air and I landed hard, crying out as my elbow took the brunt of the impact, bent awkwardly behind me. I heard something in my shoulder pop against the floor with a hollow thunk. The pain brought tears to my eyes and nausea turned my stomach. My arm didn’t feel like it was working quite right and I clutched it to my side, gritting my teeth and hoping it was something that I could deal with later.
I looked around and saw that my wand had skittered away across the room, leaning against a pillar several feet away.

  I blinked the tears out of my eyes and turned to see Luke and Cale struggling across the room. Luke tucked his wings against his back as my brother tackled him to the floor. A loud hiss from the Barrier drew all three of our attentions.

  A legion of knightmares rushed through the tear, their hissing laughter filling the Throne Room. Their bodies oozed out of the Void like black vomit out of a jagged, grotesque mouth. They moved with lightning quickness, rushing the walls of the Throne Room and blowing holes in the marble and plaster with the force of their bodies until they broke through to the outside, spilling down the side of the Beacon and into the human population.

  I couldn’t yet hear the screams of people being consumed by the knightmares from this high up over the sudden rushing of air through the holes in the building, but I knew they were coming.

  Here we are.

  Hell on Earth.

  “Well done.” I heard Cale laugh down at Luke, grabbing him by the front of the t-shirt. Luke thrashed to get away from him. “I knew Danny would choose her Angel wisely.”

  “Too bad you can’t choose your family.” Luke snarled, throwing his knee into Cale’s stomach, trying to get out from under him. Cale just laughed and pinned Luke beneath him, punching him hard enough to daze him.

  I struggled to my knees, bracing my good arm on the floor, my injured arm tucked close to my side.

  “You are incredible! I’m tempted to just keep you.” Cale enthused before he looked up to where I was kneeling. He grinned and wrapped his hands around Luke’s throat without breaking eye contact with me, his face crazed. “But I think watching you die would hurt Danny so much more, don’t you think?”

  Luke began thrashing and bucking on the floor as his air was completely cut off. Cale bared his teeth as he squeezed harder.

  My body felt hot as adrenaline burned my nose. The fingers of my good hand scratched at the cold stone floor as I clawed my way toward them, feverishly hoping I could get there in time. I stumbled and cursed my clumsy steps and the agony in my shoulder blinding me. Luke’s struggles grew weaker and I shouted in desperation