by Anne Schlea
“I would hope in ten years you’d have found someone else to fight beside.” She reaches down to pick up the duffle bag. It’s heavier than she remembers.
“There isn’t anyone as good as you.” He tilts his chin toward Marissa’s door. “Talk to her and then let’s get rolling.”
Chapter Two
When Anna looks at herself in the mirror and sees a killer looking back at her she feels a rush of bitterness. This isn’t going be fun trying to explain to Marissa. She pulls her auburn hair into a tight braid and replaces her very motherly looking clothes with a tight black tank top, leather pants, and boots. Her leather arm sleeve is packed in the bag, too, ready to protect the inside of her arm from the release of an arrow. An assortment of knives is hidden in her various pockets and her quiver is already stocked and slung across her back. She even finds the necklace Riley had given her when they were barely more than children in the bottom of the bag.
The half-moon with an arrow piercing it had brought her good luck in the past.
She passes one of her neighbors on the way to the elevator. They look at her like they want to scream and run the other direction. She says the first thing that pops into her mind. “Costume party to celebrate the release of that new movie.”
They don’t look like they believe her as they rush into their apartment and bolt the door behind them.
Riley meets her in the lobby of her building and holds out her bow.
In an instant, everything changes. Anna’s body starts to hum in anticipation. She doesn’t need to remember how to use the weapon; her body is the weapon. She holds it up and pulls it tight. Someone has already set the tension for her and, despite her weakened state, it’s perfect.
“Don’t forget these.” Riley holds out a pair of leather gloves with the fingers cut out.
“I don’t think I need them.” She takes the pair and slides her hands into them anyway. Snaps on the back pull them tight against her skin. It is a familiar, comfortable feeling. “It’s been a long time since I lost my sensitivity.”
“You’re going to be with us now, it’ll come back.” He checks the long sword at his back. “I’d rather it not come back at a particularly inopportune time.”
“Fair enough.” Anna looks at the other two soldiers with Riley. Neither looks particularly happy she’s here. It’s another matched pair, one man and one woman. The woman has red hair, something that should make her memorable for a Fallen. Typically Fallen are a dark-haired race with tanned skin and bodies built for battle. The man fits the bill: tall, strong, dark hair, and brown eyes. His hair is close shaven to his head and a nasty scar runs down his arm.
“This is Mia and Kurt.” Riley nods to the pair.
“Nice to meet you.” Anna inclines her head respectfully at both of them. Mia. The name is familiar.
Mia pulls her own sword from her back. She nods in Anna’s direction and then turns to Riley. “General.”
What? Anna feels like she’s been kicked in the gut with surprise. She looks at Riley. “General? You could have mentioned that.”
“When a lot of people die, anyone alive tends to be promoted through the ranks quickly. Don’t make more of it than there is.” He levels his gaze at Mia and Anna sees an unspoken language pass between them. She feels an unsolicited stab of jealousy – she used to communicate with him like that. “I’ll get Anna to higher ground. You flush out the targets and she’ll take care of the rest.”
Mia and Kurt nod before they jog off to the south.
Riley leads Anna north along the street in front of Anna’s apartment building. After a couple of blocks, they cross the street and enter a large park. It’s a park Anna brought Marissa to often when she was a child. She shudders to realize the demons she’d tried to escape were still so close.
“Up there.” He points to a tall building at the edge of the park.
The building looks like it’s been abandoned. Riley breaks the lock and they thankfully find the stairs intact. A few minutes later, Anna is perched on the top of the building with her bow ready and waiting. She’s aware Riley is standing behind her, of course, but her attention is focused on the park in front of her. “What am I looking for?”
“There are a couple of Legion demons causing some trouble in the area. Mia and Kurt are herding them our way. Your job is to take them out with the bow.” She hears him pull his sword. “I’ll go back to street level and take out any you miss.”
“Are you serious?” Anna looks over her shoulder at him. He stands in a patch of flickering light from a broken security light above the door. There are shadows showing the depth of muscle in his arms where his black t-shirt stops. “I haven’t held a bow in ten years. You trust me a little too much here.”
“You trust yourself too little.” Riley smiles at her. “You’ll be fine. Just hit as many as you can, I’ll take care of the rest.”
Anna watches Riley hurry back through the doors and then listens to him move down the stairs. She shakes her head and curses quietly to herself. She’s barely strong enough to stand up let alone try to take out Legion demons from the top of a building. They’re scary fast and she has to properly measure their speed and then distance her bow far enough ahead. It’s a complex math problem to do off the top of her head.
She takes a breath and steps to the edge of the building. The arrow comes into her hand like a world-weary soldier finally coming home. It fits into the bowstring for her and no one else. She uses a tower at the edge of the building to hide herself in the shadows. Her blood starts to pump more solidly through her veins and she takes a deep breath. The years between the last mission for her people and this moment fad away in the space of a few heartbeats. Completely centered, she waits. This has always been the most difficult part of her job. The wait.
Her body is motionless in the shadow of the tower. The breeze blows through her hair and moves it in the wind, it’s the only indication she isn’t part of the metal structure that hides her. Anna wishes she’d taken time to tie it back more firmly. It’s good Legion demons have poor sight and probably won’t see her on top of the building.
Then she spots them.
Three Legion scurry through the park from the direction of the Warehouse district. They look like small warthogs with large tusks and sharp teeth. Kurt is angled to the north to cut off their escape into the more populated apartments and restaurants; Mia is behind them driving them forward. She can visualize Riley below the building to stop any she misses.
She decides in that instant she isn’t going to give him anything to do tonight.
Anna tilts her bow up and takes her aim several feet in front of the first demon. The bolt comes loose and sails through the air with perfect aim. The first demon falls. She reloads and releases her next two shots without thought before two more Legion come out of the tree line. A moment later they go down, too.
The thrill of the hunt sings through her, making her head tingle and her body hum.
The flight of the arrows is as familiar as breathing. There’s no thought and no desperate calculations as there had been when she first learned her art. There are simply targets and answers to those targets. She can’t remember the last time she felt so comfortable. Not since she’d left home, that’s for sure.
Life in the outer world is difficult for her. Relationships mean nothing here. People use each other and then toss them aside like a discarded napkin. There is no connection to the larger community, to the race. There is no true drive for survival.
The door behind Anna opens after her fifth shot. She watches for another Legion but none appear in the park. Her job must be done; not bad for her first try in so long. Five shots, five hits. Anna smiles and turns expecting to find Riley striding toward her.
Instead she comes face to face with a Kappa demon.
Kappas are huge, troll looking creatures with dark green skin and long, sharp claws. They’re stronger than any man and single minded. Kill. It glares at her from across the rooftop like she’s
just killed its pet dog. She probably has. All five of them.
She grabs an arrow and shoots off a bolt to try and stun the demon.
The Kappa takes it in the shoulder and roars. He rushes her so quickly she doesn’t get a chance to shoot off another bolt. She’s too close to the edge of the building at her current position and doesn’t trust her own balance enough to try and dance along the edge. She’s only eight stories up, but even one of the Fallen can’t survive that fall; especially not in her current physical condition.
She drops her bow and pulls double daggers from her boots, grateful Riley had thought to give her the extra arms. Her legs crouch down and she works the Kappa around in a circle. It’s unrealistic to think she can make a break for the doorway and survive. Besides, the job of the Fallen is to kill the demon, not lead it back into a building that might still have humans in it. She has to hope Riley or Kurt or Mia is on the way to help her.
Unfortunately, the Kappa is a smart demon. He analyzes her movements and watches for weakness. It won’t be long before he finds hers – that she’s spent so much time in the human world. She’s now more human than Fallen.
“Riley, now would be a great time to have my back.” Anna mutters under her breath. She pauses mid stride to get her footing.
The Kappa spots her hesitation and rushes at her. She spins under his arm and slices up with her right hand blade. The beast roars in startled pain and then turns back toward her. His eyes roll in their sockets before they lock back on Anna. She feels the top of the building shudder as it stomps its feet in frustration.
The latch on the doorway behind her gives way and she catches sight of Riley to her left. His long sword is drawn as he advances past Anna and toward the Kappa. His steps are measured and strong, completely sure of himself. Anna thinks for a minute she should help him but her arms aren’t going to comply. It only takes a minute for Riley to line up the demon for Kurt to take a shot from the ground. When the arrow bursts through the demon’s chest cavity, it screams an ungodly sound before it falls to the ground and starts to dissolve.
The smell of burning flesh and sulfur waft over to Anna, turning her stomach. She does her best not to gag while she slides her weapons back to their homes in her boots.
“I’m sorry.” Riley checks to be sure the demon is done before he turns back to Anna. His eyes are wide and surprised. “Are you okay? I had no idea that Kappa was in the area. I never would have left you alone up here on the roof if I’d known.”
“Great way to try and get me killed.” She cocks her head at him and rests her fists on her hips. “Really? A Kappa demon? Are you kidding me?”
“I’m sorry, truly.” He touches her shoulders with his hands. “Are you hurt?”
“Do I look hurt?” She shakes him off and leans over to pick up her bow. She wipes it down carefully and holds it out to him.
“No, you look mad.” He waves off the offer of the weapon. “Keep it. It’s yours.”
She’s grateful he doesn’t want it back and runs a hand lovingly along its curve. This weapon has saved her life many, many times. “Thank you.”
“Let’s get you home.” His eyes shift over the edge of the building and then his hand comes up to signal to Kurt and Mia below. “You need to rest. Tomorrow morning I’ll be back before lunch for you and Marissa. Pack up only what is necessity.”
“That quickly?” Anna mind races. She has a job and a few human friends. “You intend to have me back at Orasul by tomorrow night?”
“Do you really think you can survive much longer out here?” His blunt words hit home. There’s a point when the damage done to the body of a Fallen becomes irreversible. After ten years she’s probably getting close.
Chapter Three
Anna wakes early the next morning despite her late mission the night before. Driven by a compulsion to maintain normalcy, she makes her bed and carefully arranges the room. Her clothes are all put away and her books are carefully stacked next to her bed. Riley and his soldiers are resting for the night in a nearby hotel. He promised he’d be back right after breakfast to help them pack what was necessary. Someone would come for the rest later.
He’s only giving her enough time to tell Marissa the truth. If they’re going to stop Anna’s sickness, it needs to be soon; there isn’t enough time to go one last time to the theater or to eat at Marissa’s favorite restaurant. Time is not Anna’s friend.
None of the Fallen can live for long on their own. The energy they share between them keeps the race sustained and vital. Without the energy of the others, her body is slowly breaking down to decay. Riley isn’t wrong when he said she’d be dead before Marissa’s out of high school.
At eight o’clock, Anna knocks lightly on Marissa’s door. It’s a Wednesday and she should be up and getting ready for school. “Honey?”
“Hey, mom.” Marissa opens the door. She’s already dressed. This is good.
Anna just looks at her for a minute. She sees a beautiful young woman dressed for school in a plaid skirt and white top. Her backpack is packed and ready to go. Light make up. Jewelry they’d picked out together last Christmas.
None of this will be normal for her again.
“Come, sit down at the table, we need to talk.” Anna steps away from the door and motions for Marissa to move ahead of her down the hall.
“I have to leave for school.” Marissa frowns, her hand lingering on the strap to her backpack, her eyes looking to the clock.
“You’re not going to school today.” Anna watches Marissa’s expression carefully. She doesn’t know for sure none of her conversation with Riley had been overheard. “I’ve already called to let them know we’ve had a family emergency and you’ll be out the rest of the week.”
“What’s going on?” There’s a note of panic in her voice now. Anna can see Marissa is trying to put together pieces in her mind. “Is this because of that man who came to see you last night?”
“Sort of. Please come sit down with me. We don’t have much time.” Anna is all too aware of the clock ticking in the background, each movement of the second-hand echoing through her mind like the slam of a gavel. “There’s a lot you need to know and Riley will be back in a couple of hours.”
“Okay.” Marissa’s voice is hesitant, but she follows Anna to the kitchen table to sit down. Once there, she sits down and looks at her with wary eyes.
Anna pours herself a cup of herbal tea and then comes back to sit across from her daughter. She’s played the conversation in her mind a thousand times but now the reality of it seems to steal the words from her mouth. How exactly do you tell your daughter that everything she knows is a lie?
“So are we in the Witness Protection Program or something?” Marissa finally asks, her tone lighthearted. “I mean, I always wondered why you don’t have any family besides me and you always keep to yourself. Were you in the mafia or something?”
Anna actually smiles. If only it were that easy. She can tell from Marissa’s voice that she’s kidding; she’s trying to lighten the moment so Anna doesn’t feel so uncomfortable.
“Not exactly.” Anna takes a deep breath. The air fills her lungs and clears her head. “Three thousand years ago a priest in a temple in Greece opened what the world knows as Pandora’s Box. It released into the world demons that had been locked away since before the Age of Man. For a time, Greece sent its best and bravest warriors to defend the world from the death and destruction caused by these creatures, but it was to no avail. The demons thrived among humanity. They turned brother against brother and brought war with them everywhere they went. After a thousand years, a group of heavenly beings realized it would take more than mankind to stop the plague brought about by those who escaped the box. The gods convened and decided something must be done, but heavenly beings are not meant to live on earth. An army from the realm of the gods made the choice to fall to earth to fight; you’d think of these creatures as angels. They are called the Fallen.”
Marissa sits across the ta
ble and watches Anna with a calm, collected demeanor. She’s far too calm, Anna realizes. Is it possible she’s somehow found out? Anna knows she’d been careful. She sent Marissa to a Catholic school on hallowed ground. No demon could have crossed paths with her there and it’s rare for Marissa to go out without Anna following close behind. If she’d seen something, surely Anna would have known.
“Okay.” Marissa’s face remains very composed. “What does this have to do with us?”
“The Fallen are not meant for life on earth. “ Anna spins her tea cup around in a circle on the saucer as she watches Marissa’s face for a reaction, any reaction. The absolute stillness makes her uncomfortable. “They must live together in something like a hive. Their energy feeds each other and without each other they will waste away and die.”
“Like you are?”
The words make Anna stop. Marissa still doesn’t move, her face solemn and still.
She knows.
“Marissa, why would you say that?” Anna’s measured words come very carefully. Is it possible Marissa remembers more of her parents than she’d ever let on? Could she remember life in Orasul before their flight?
Marissa pushes up from the table without any comment and goes to her room. Anna watches the empty hallway with a twisted stomach. When Marissa returns, she has a folded piece of paper in her hand. “You should probably read this.”
Anna reaches out and takes the paper from Marissa. She’s shocked to see her own hands shaking. The handwriting on the letter is very familiar; it’s a script Anna hasn’t seen in ten years. “Where did you get this?”
“Mom…my real mom, she left this with me when she brought me to you. We hid it in my teddy bear so you wouldn’t find it.” Marissa finally looks a little uncomfortable. “So, yeah. I’ve known for a while. I didn’t really understand until I got older, but I’ve been waiting. I kind of figured you’d talk to me when something needed to change.”
