Heaven

by Belinda McBride

  He fought for oxygen and his own fragile wings fluttered, unable to find purchase in the thin air of the high atmosphere. Michael twisted again and Rex gasped as the edge of the sword caught his leg. His leather gaiters barely softened the blow and blood ran down his calf, filling the boot. In fury, he released his hold on the angel’s neck, lashing him around the face and shoulders with his tail.

  “You think they stand a chance down there? You think they stand a chance against Kelet and his demons?” Michael laughed, though the rush of wind nearly caused his voice to vanish. He blocked the sharp blows with his arms, which grew red and welted.

  “Tell me, Reux, what will happen when you fall through the air? Your wings aren’t meant to soar so high, are they? Even now, your lungs labor to breathe. You’re probably dizzy and sick.”

  That was all true, but Rex held on. Michael fought to ascend, but the air was too thin.

  “What will happen to you when I suddenly vanish?”

  With a sickening lurch, the high angel dematerialized, only to reappear yards away from Rex. He’d returned to his full weight, and as Michael began to plunge toward the Earth, his great wings beat frantically. For a moment, panic showed on his face. He then caught himself, steadying his flight. Rex smiled grimly. The bastard wasn’t so cocky now.

  Instead of falling, the weightless Sidhe glided toward the angel, clasping the angel’s ankle with the tip of his tail. Michael screamed in fury. He was weightless again, and was able to twist and fight the grip Rex’s tail had on his foot.

  Inch by slow inch, Rex dragged himself closer to the angel until he finally resumed his position on Michael’s back. Weightless, they soared, though Michael’s wings were damaged and bloodstained.

  “Michael, you saw what happened when you tried to escape me.” The wind burned, and now Rex could barely make out the green, green fields below them. They’d long passed the birds and were heading for the clouds.

  “Right now you are as weightless as vapor, but what happens when you become heavy as stone?”

  In a flash, he returned their weight. The scream that tore from Michael’s throat was sheer, panicked terror. They fell. They fell like fire from the sky. They fell like boulders into water. Michael’s wings flapped wildly, white feathers tore free in their wake and his golden hair whipped and lashed the air. It slashed Rex’s face, nearly blinding him. With a wild laugh, Rex wrapped his legs around Michael’s hips, riding him to Earth like a kamikaze pilot jockeying his plane to certain doom. His eyes watered and his injured leg throbbed, but he shouted a long forgotten war cry. He increased their weight… Doubled and tripled it.

  With his tail wrapped around the angel’s throat and his body pinning the giant wings to the angel’s body, Rex taught Michael what it was like to fall.

  * * * *

  Noemi whirled and leaped back, moving out of Kelet’s line of attack. Somehow the demon had managed to entrap a group of fighters, most likely young military men and women. They were fit and agile, yet there was still a disconnect between the ability of the hosts’ bodies and the simplistic, destructive minds which inhabited them. Kelet had settled into a burly young man. His brown hair was shaved close to his head and his blue eyes blazed with a reddish glow. He laughed when Noemi stumbled on an unseen rock.

  “When I killed your old granny, she screamed like a child.”

  Anger welled up in her chest, but Noemi didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she found her balance and struck with the knife, reluctant to harm the body Kelet possessed. “When she killed your body, Kelet, you didn’t cry or scream. You were simply stricken dumb. Your jaw hung open and you drooled. You probably pissed in terror. Imagine that—a little old woman rendered you helpless with just a wave of her hand. She laughed every time she told the story.”

  She demonstrated the move with the whalebone amulet clasped between her fingers. Kelet fell back, froth flecking his lips.

  From the corner of her eye, Noemi saw Rion struggling with several of the lesser demons. Unlike her, his sword cut easily though their bodies, leaving the host intact but dragging the demon out bit by bit. His weapon blazed like the sun. Inside the light she saw it was a heavy broadsword. Once again, she tried to call forth her weapon, but nothing came to her hand.

  “Damn,” she muttered.

  There was a shout and a streak of gold.

  Carly.

  “Oh fuck,” she groaned. The Sidhe was close to insane where Patrick was concerned. She glanced at her brother, checking to make certain that he was aware of the nymph bearing down on him. She looked around the battlefield, registering that Rex was missing, as was Michael.

  “Rion!”

  He glanced her way, barely missing a beat.

  “Where’s Rex?”

  She saw panic flare in his eyes, and he back-pedaled till he reached her side. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to worry about their missing lover. The demons pressed closer and instinctively she moved away from Rion, giving him sword space. A red-haired woman cackled and struck, landing a stinging blow on Noemi’s throat. She lashed out with the knife in her left hand, leaving a thin line of red running down the woman’s arm. It sucked when you didn’t dare injure your opponent permanently. She clasped the amulet and mumbled a simple spell, turning away as the demon slipped in the grass, rolling safely away. The woman lay stunned for a moment, back in control of her senses.

  It took only seconds for the demon to reassert itself. It charged her again, and Noemi staggered backward toward Azrael, landing perilously close to his sword. She hit the ground hard, slamming into a tree, her knives scattering to the dirt.

  The demon squatted on hands and knees, stalking her slowly, growling like a wild animal.

  A woman screamed, and she looked up to see Carly wrestling with one of the lesser demons. It had her by the hair and throat, and its cock jutted out in lewd reaction to the nymph. As though by magic, the golden man she’d seen in the Other Place manifested, taking down the demon in a flurry of kicks and punches, expertly wielding a long wooden staff.

  Noemi was reluctantly impressed by Carly’s brother. At least he wasn’t worthless in a fight.

  The red-haired demon charged and Noemi automatically struck out at the woman, who went down with a choked gasp. To Noemi’s shock, a pair of small blades burned in her hands. They were similar to the Japanese sai she’d once practiced with.

  “Yes!” She leaped forward and the blades went through the lesser demon like a hot knife through butter, leaving the flesh intact but pulling the tiny fragment of Kelet out like a ragged flag. The woman tumbled to the ground, clasping her stomach.

  “Anahita, ground it!” She looked at Patrick, who had a similar haze over the length of his sword. He planted the sword into the ground as though stabbing the demonic fabric into the Earth. She quickly followed his example.

  Behind him, Kelet’s host moved closer, murderous glee on his face. She cursed, knowing she’d been the one to distract Azrael. Noemi rushed forward just in time to see the man’s beefy fist clasp her brother’s bare arm. Kelet howled in triumph.

  “No!” Noemi slipped to the ground in shock.

  Azrael whirled, his burning sword swinging in an arc around his body, headed straight for Noemi’s heart.

  “No!” she screamed.

  He struck, the sword flashed like lightning.

  A streak of golden hair and blue dress, the scream of a woman. Three feet away from Noemi lay Carly—the sword and Kelet’s flailing soul lodged in her torso.

  Another scream—this one was a male voice. Her brother… What was his name? Eric? No… Eryx. He huddled over her body, holding her steady, stroking her face, smoothing the tears from her cheeks. Behind her the lesser demons had fallen to the ground, leaving their hosts unconscious. The tatters of Kelet’s essence made their way to the sword that held them to the dying body of the trapped woman.

  Azrael moved closer, swaying on his feet. He dropped to his knees, running his fingers around the blade. Her blood barely
trickled from the wound, but it ran in a rivulet from the corner of her mouth.

  “Why?” His face was pearly white. The angelic glow began to fade, leaving a shocked and horrified man behind.

  “You…” Her voice was faint and her breathing came in short bursts. Noemi shifted to doctor mode, noting that the blade must have pierced a lung. “You…were going to kill her…your sister…”

  “Don’t talk, Carly. We’ll get Brita. I’ll take you home and you’ll be fine. I promise.” Her brother knelt over her, his body taut with emotion. Without warning, Eryx reached up to clasp Azrael’s sword, but his fingers brushed through it as though it was illusion. Noemi caught his hand.

  “Leave it in place. She’s immortal. That doesn’t mean she can’t die, though, and if you pull it out, the shock could kill her.” Noemi dropped to her knees, her hands on the nymph’s belly. She looked into the anguished blue eyes of the dryad. “Get your healers. Bring them here. If we work together, we might save her.”

  Eryx looked from Noemi to Azrael. The look he gave the angel was venomous and full of hatred.

  “You did this.”

  “She stepped into the path of his sword, Eryx. You saw it.” Rion’s voice was steady and calming. Eryx blinked, no doubt seeing the fight replay in his mind’s eye. Even in his pain, he saw the truth.

  “She did this for you, Azrael. This is on your shoulders.”

  The dark angel rose to his feet, looking down at the fallen nymph. He rubbed her blood between his fingertips and looked from brother to sister.

  “I don’t understand. I’ve never seen this woman before.”

  His eyes were full of bewilderment and Carly moaned in agony, but not the agony of body. Her eyes slipped closed and, for a moment, Noemi was certain that the nymph had died. Her blue eyes fluttered open and the look she gave Azrael was desperate.

  “Don’t you know me, Patrick?”

  Slowly, he shook his head.

  “But I love you.” Tears fell from Carly’s eyes.

  * * * *

  Rion was ready to cry himself. Noemi knelt, her attention partly on the fallen woman and partly on their surroundings. She was looking for Rex. Anxiety gnawed at his gut. Fear made the skin of his arms prickle. Azrael looked at him with too much knowledge in his eyes.

  Michael would strike at Kokabiel through those he loved. He hadn’t gone after Noemi, as they’d expected. He’d gone after Rex.

  “Your Sidhe is a fighter, Kokabiel. I’m sure he’s fine.”

  Somehow the words sounded odd coming from the dark angel. He’d have preferred to hear them from his Irish alter ego. Azrael might be his friend from long ago, but Patrick seemed more real.

  “Rion. Find him. Please.” Noemi’s voice was raw with fear. Whatever she was doing with the nymph was holding the woman to life. Noemi’s aura was bright white and green, centering at the point where the blade entered the nymph’s body. Rion moved away and looked toward the forest. That’s where he most likely led the angel, if he’d had the choice.

  “He’s flying.” Carly’s voice was soft. “Rion… He’s so high… I don’t think Rex can fly that high.”

  He followed her gaze, squinting against the brilliance of the sun. Sure enough, he could barely make out a figure silhouetted against the clouds.

  “Rex.” His voice was tight with horror. Instinctively he crouched to fly up and intercept the Sidhe, but Patrick stepped up, laying a hand on his arm. “They’re falling too fast, Kokabiel.”

  He blinked, and, true to Patrick’s words, the figure grew closer by the moment. But it wasn’t just one man he saw.

  “It’s Michael and Rex… Together. Falling.”

  Falling.

  It was true. They hurtled with such speed the angel left a trail of white feathers behind them. How could they plummet toward the ground so fast? Weren’t they able to halt the descent? From where he stood, he could see Rex’s wings were tightly folded to his back. He wasn’t trying to slow their descent.

  “Rex!” He screamed. Noemi was beside him, clutching at his arm. Her screams mingled with his. Long faded memories of hurtling through time and space seared through his mind. Fire licked at his skin and his voice was ripped from his throat.

  They were too close to stop, too close to save. As they watched in petrified horror, Rex rose to his feet. His tail kept him anchored to the angel as Michael plummeted toward the ground. With a sudden gathering of his body, Rex thrust upward toward the sky and Michael plunged into the muddy sheep field. His screams were drowned by the chaos of dirt and rock and grass exploding into the air. Yards above the crater, Rex hovered. He came to a slow, graceful landing just feet from the pit in which the broken angel lay shuddering.

  “Damn. I wish I’d had time to set him ablaze.”

  Rex turned to the group on the hillside, walking unsteadily toward Carly. He met Rion, looked up into the eyes of his lover and shook his head ruefully. He’d carried off Michael’s defeat with a flourish, but Rion could see he was shaken. His hand trembled as he reached up, brushing dirt from his face and hair. Rion put an arm around his waist, helping him to stay on his feet. Noemi was back at Carly’s side, once again funneling her energy into the nymph.

  Rex gave Rion a fierce, quick hug and settled to his knees on the other side of Carly, looking to Noemi for instruction.

  “Now, Dr. Gastineau, how do we save the life of my old friend?” He smiled gently at Carly, brushing her hair back from her forehead. With the pad of his thumb, he wiped tears from her muddy cheek.

  Patrick turned away, his face awash in pain and guilt. Rion reached out, preventing him from leaving. “You have to see this out, Azrael.”

  “I was going to see to the humans. Take them elsewhere. We can’t have them wake up here.” He turned, looking at the still figures on the ground. He looked at Rion, his face white and drawn. “I don’t know her, Kokabiel,” he whispered.

  “She’s Carly. She’s a nymph who controls memory and lust. Somehow or another, she’s managed to fall in love with you.”

  Rion glanced up, seeing that Eryx had returned with Brita and another Sidhe he didn’t recognize.

  “She thought you were going to kill Noemi. It’s ironic, because she betrayed Noemi to save you from Michael. She knew it would kill you to hurt your sister.”

  Patrick stared at the injured woman. “I don’t understand. I look at her and I don’t know her. I recall Anahita mentioned her name… Carly. But I don’t know her, Rion.”

  He smiled at the angel’s use of his name. Perhaps this was a step in the right direction for them. Azrael held much of his past that was unknown, even to Noemi. After all, they’d been friends before he and Anahita had married.

  “Patrick, Michael feared you. He might have wanted something from you. Do you know why?”

  Patrick’s blue eyes burned into his. “I’ve done nothing but follow his orders all these decades… Centuries. I’ve never questioned him. Until Anahita, my loyalty was undeniable.”

  “Another mystery then.” Patrick undoubtedly had the answer. It would come back to him someday. “One I plan to unravel.”

  Patrick turned to the downed humans. One let out a piteous moan.

  “They’ll be waking soon.”

  Rion followed, glancing up to see the small group stirring around Carly. “Can they remove the sword? I saw the dryad’s hand pass through the hilt.”

  Patrick’s eyes were bleak. “I struck with the intent of sparing the human, but killing the demon. Because she—Carly—is not human, it pierced her flesh. The sword will respond only to my hand.”

  “Come on then. We’ll deal with the humans later. We’ve got a life to save.”

  Perhaps this was a first for Azrael, the Angel of Death. It was a lesson he needed. Rion joined the circle around Carly and watched as they began the complex maneuver of drawing the sword from her body. At the same time, Noemi used the amulet to drain the life from Kelet’s shadowy form as it writhed on the blade of Patrick’s sword. He’d
never again hijack a body.

  After a brief argument, Rex convinced Brita to allow Noemi entrance into the Other Place, as she seemed to be the only one of the healers able to hold the life inside of Carly’s frail body. Eryx looked from the succubus to Brita with an odd expression of anger and desperation. When his gaze rested on Patrick, his eyes went dark with hatred.

  “Great. One sibling loves me and the other hates me.”

  “At least you aren’t being ignored.”

  The two angels stood back, and with a jolt Rion realized they were alone. The others had vanished into thin air. He looked at Patrick for a moment.

  “I’ll transport the humans to a pub in the countryside somewhere. They’ll all wake thinking they got themselves wicked drunk.” He gestured for Rion to help move the limp bodies of the young men and women.

  “I can help fly them out.”

  The smile the dark angel gave was similar to Patrick of the old days. He grinned a single dimple made his handsome face look young and charming.

  “No need. As long as they’re all in contact with one another…” He pushed them close together. “I can take them at once.”

  In a heartbeat, he was gone. Within a second heartbeat, Rex and Noemi were again at Rion’s side. He threw an arm over the ghillie dubh’s shoulders, and with the other, clasped Noemi’s hand, pulling her close. Things had happened so fast that Rion still didn’t have his bearings.

  “Did she make it?”

  “Aye.” Rex’s voice was hoarse with exhaustion. “It was close. It would have been a fatal injury if she’d been human.” Without being asked, he answered Rion’s next question. “We were there only hours. Noemi saved Carly’s life several times over.” Rion remembered Anahita’s gift to Rex. She’d fed her energy into the Sidhe when he’d been so badly injured. It seemed so very long ago. It made sense, though. Sex was life, and a succubus was all about sex. She’d probably grow as a healer now that Noemi and Anahita were joined.