Angelic Nightmare

by H G Lynch

  Ember instantly loped over to the boys, and saw Sherry, in her peripheral vision, drop the snowball she was levitating. Hiro strolled over with a purposeful look on his face.

  “Reid, what’s going on?” Ember asked, all her nerves suddenly buzzing and tight. Her heart picked up the pace as she saw the look on Reid’s face. His eyes were icy and metallic, glowing dangerously. His jaw was set, but when he spoke, she saw his fangs were out. Uh oh.

  “The Sssociety. The attack. There’s a grrroup of them outside, blocking the road in. Maybe two dozen of them. Sssome are visibly arrrmed with swordsss and bows and arrrrows. The rest are most likely carrying concealed knives and ssstakes,” he ground out, his voice caught between a low snarl and a hiss.

  Ember felt serious chills shiver painfully down her spine, then come back up blistering hot. Fear and fury were fighting inside her chest, and all she could do was nod weakly and mutter, “Then what are we waiting for?”

  Ricky stepped forward, eyes on Sherry. “We need to know you’re both okay to fight. Sherry, I know you don’t want to sit out, but…how are you with a knife?” The expression on the brunette boy’s face said that if Sherry gave the wrong answer, he was keeping her out of this.

  Sherry lifted her chin and met his eyes. “I can stab anyone who gets close enough. But, I’ve got other powers as well, remember? I’m pretty sure that if I can stay close to the trees, I can do my faery thing. They won’t be able to reach me. It’ll be my safety plan for if I get into trouble,” Sherry said with a confidence that made Ember want to hug the girl tightly.

  Ricky only nodded in response and handed her a wicked-looking dagger. Ember wanted to ask where the hell he’d gotten it, but then dismissed it; she should’ve guessed the guys would pack weaponry for the trip. It was amazing they’d gotten the stuff through the airport security.

  Reid turned his attention back to Ember, his expression unreadable. “You remember the rules for you being in this fight?” he asked sharply.

  Ember nodded, clenching her fists in determination. Fury was winning out over her fear now, and she’d be damned if she backed out of this fight now. She wanted to kick some ass.

  “Hiro, are you with us?” Reid asked the presence lingering over Ember’s shoulder, his eyes flat with a challenge. Ember turned to look at Hiro, and everyone else did the same, but Hiro was staring only at Ember. She could feel the churn of emotions within him through their link. He was anxious and angry, but his resolve was holding strong.

  “I’m with you. I promised I’d protect you if I could,” he said quietly, as if he and Ember were the only people here.

  She nodded gratefully, leaned forward to hug him. “Thank you,” she breathed, really meaning it. The boy was a lanky fifteen year old, but he was also a lanky, sharp-tongued Kitsune with two centuries behind him. And she was glad to have him on her side.

  When she pulled back, she briefly saw a glimmer of something soft in his strange, amber eyes, but it was gone again before she could identify it. Sucking in a breath, she turned back to the others. “Let’s go. If we jump the fence, we’ll land in the park, and hopefully draw them forward. If we can get them out of the street at least, civilians are less likely to see and call the cops. It’d be nice to see those bastards arrested, but I’m not keen on prison myself.” She smirked a little, adrenalin kicking in. Her fight-or-flight response was nagging at her primal instincts, and she was firmly choosing fight.

  Ricky and Reid nodded, but before anyone could make a move toward the fence at the east end of the garden, Raphael abruptly spoke up. Ember had almost forgotten about him, but now, he commanded attention in a booming voice that was beyond human capability.

  “Wait!” he bellowed, and everyone froze, turned to look at him with wide eyes. He was shimmering, glowing faintly, and even the casual jeans and t-shirt couldn’t make him look less…well, angelic. Only, he didn’t look like the kind of guardian angel Ember had always pictured when her grandmother used to sing the old rhyme to her as a child; He looked like an avenging angel, and a pissed off one at that. It was scary and intimidating and oh, so freaking cool.

  Ember was sure she wasn’t the only one who’d stopped breathing as Raphael looked around at them all with those dark, dark eyes. He finally settled his heavy gaze on her, and she nearly bowed under the pressure of that stare. It was an unearthly, almost tangible thing.

  “Ember. As your guardian angel, I am sworn to protect you. Only you. I cannot intervene with your friends if they are in trouble. If you wish, I can ensure your complete safety in this fight. You could stand in the middle of the battle and nobody would get near you. But, if you choose, I can merely assist you at the strategic moment. Somehow—” Raphael smiled very slightly, just one side of his mouth curling, “—I think you will not want my full protection. But it is necessary that I offer it to you anyway. So, what will be your choice?”

  Oh, jeez. Immunity in the middle of a battlefield sounded pretty damned good. But if it didn’t include her friends, if it meant she couldn’t fight some of these bastards herself, she didn’t want it. Raz was right about that.

  She smirked at him. “Raz, you are one awesome guardian angel, be sure of it. But I’m going to have to respectfully decline your offer of full protection. These guys have really pissed me off and I want to get some payback with my own very special magic. If you want to kick some ass when it sorely needs kicked, feel free. I’m just glad you aren’t on their team.”

  Raphael nodded at that, and turned to the others. “I suppose it’s time to kick some ass then,” he said with a glimmer in his dark eyes.

  Reid grinned at him. “Hell yeah it is! Come on, people, let’s get this fight started!”

  They moved to the east side of the garden and Reid, with impressive ease, flung himself over the seven foot high fence. Chuckling, Ricky did the same. Hiro hesitated, met Ember’s eyes for a moment, and then vanished into thin air. Simultaneous “Whoas” on the other side of the fence told her Hiro had reappeared with the other guys.

  Ember turned to Sherry and took her hand, gave it a squeeze. “Are you sure you want to be in this?” she asked quietly.

  Sherry squeezed back and grinned, green eyes twinkling. “Yeah. I’m sure,” she said, without the slightest hint of uncertainty or fear in her voice.

  Ember was damned proud of her best friend in that moment. With one last smile, she released Sherry’s hand and nodded. “Be careful then.”

  Sherry smiled back gently. “You too.”

  And then Sherry clambered over the fence. Ember guessed Ricky caught her on the other side. Steeling herself, Ember took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reaching out with her mind-limb for every particle of heat she could muster, and sucking it into her. Her palms tingled, and then set to a low burn that felt reassuring rather than painful. Then, with a final wink at Raphael standing behind her, she curled her fingers over the top of the fence, and launched herself over it.

  She landed lightly on the other side, then blinked in astonishment. There was a fox amongst the group, but it wasn’t Hiro’s normal, cute, little fox. This fox was the size of a large dog, with every hair on end. He looked like a blazing creature of red, with three long, swishing tails on full display. “Holy crap,” Ember commented, and Hiro turned his head to look at her, made a chuffing noise that she took to be laughter.

  Before she could say more, she was spun around and swept into a bone-melting, wild kiss that seared her every nerve from head to toes. Reid let her go slowly, and looked her deep in the eyes, his eyes dark as sapphires. “Be careful, Firefly,” he said softly.

  She nodded, licked her swollen lips and replied in a whisper, “I will be. Don’t worry about me.” Worry about yourself instead, she added mentally, but she didn’t project it to him. She knew he got the message from her eyes alone.

  Ember drew herself up, shoulders back, and pushed away the lingering remains of any fear. “Okay. Let’s do this.” She marched forward to the edge of the park, where it met th
e street and she could see the assembled forces of The Society standing in the middle of the road. Blocking the direct route in and out.

  As Reid had said, there were probably two dozen of them, all armed, no doubt. She could see the glint of swords and knives, and the elegant curves of bows in the hands of some of the members. And every one of them was dressed exactly the same; Loose black combats, black t-shirts and heavy boots. They also wore shiny black shin guards and chest plates, made of some metal that was, undoubtedly, charmed or rune-marked.

  More of them filled the alleyway to the right of the park. There were probably yet more of them hidden in the trees behind them. So that made the tally something over four dozen at least.

  The odds didn’t worry her, though. The Society had a bunch of well-trained, fully armed, vampire-killing humans. Her side, on the other hand, had two full-blooded vampires, a unique dark faery with a knife, a monster Kitsune, and a really, really pissed off Fire Soul with more power than anyone had ever seen before. Plus, they had their secret weapon; Ember’s personal guardian angel. Yeah. Fifty humans with magic knives weren’t going to be much of a match, she was sure.

  So, flashing her most defiant, challenging smirk, Ember raised her hands out to her sides and looked at every single one of her opponents. “Come and fucking get me, assholes!” she yelled. Her voice rang with every ounce of fury she could put into it, and it made the humans hesitate, but not for long.

  They all charged toward the park and, as she’d suspected, more of them sprang from the trees at the back of the park. The rush, the adrenalin, mixed with her anger and the heavy sensation of her fire flaring to life in her hands, almost had her giddy with the thrill of it all.

  Almost immediately, Ember saw Reid take down two archers, appearing behind them before they could even get a fix on him. She imagined he wanted revenge for the assassination attempt yesterday. Ricky engaged in a brutal dance with a couple of swordsmen, who couldn’t land a single blow. Hiro lunged at a big guy with a dagger in each hand, and promptly began tearing into the man’s throat. Sherry was holding her own, slashing at a couple of females who had her backed against the fence.

  And Ember herself…Well, she could watch all of her friends fighting while she launched a blazing stream of flames at anyone who got near enough. Several people went up in flames and immediately dropped to the ground, trying to pound out the flames with the snow. But her flames didn’t die the same way normal ones did. They could be standing in a waterfall and she could still set them on fire and watch them burn.

  Drawing up more power from the trees and the house and even from the humans themselves —she enjoyed watching them slowly turning blue with unexplained hypothermia — she focused part of her mind on another thing. She aimed one blast of fire at the ground, keeping the other pointed at anyone and everyone who tried to get close to her. In her peripheral vision, she saw the fire shaping itself after the image in her head.

  In under a minute, the creature was complete, and it let out a mighty roar that crackled with the sound of a raging bonfire. Almost every human head turned in her direction for a split second, and she saw eyes widening here and there, in awe and shock and horror. Obviously, even if these guys had known about her ability to create fire creatures, it was something different to see a full-size Bengal tiger made entirely of flames, standing in the middle of a children’s play park.

  “Benji,” Ember said with a sadistic glee, “Sic’ ‘em!”

  The tiger shot off toward a knotted group of The Society members who were hovering by the trees, aiming arrows and throwing knives. Ember laughed madly as four of the eight humans turned tail and ran. Benji tore the remaining four apart in two minutes flat, roaring and crunching while they screamed in agony, and then went after the escapees.

  In her distraction, three more knife-wielding lunatics had crept within her eight foot boundary, and were trying to circle her. Focusing again, Ember grinned and tried something she hadn’t attempted before. She sent out a shockwave of flames from herself, watching it fly out in a perfect circle in mid-air. One guy was fast and smart enough to duck it, but the other two took a direct hit to the chest. They went sailing backwards, and the fire dispersed, leaving two guys on the ground, each with a charred line of blackened flesh across their torsos. It wasn’t pretty.

  The third guy kept coming, and Ember swung around just in time to deal him one hell of a punch. At the last second, just before her hand collided with his chest, she spread the flames over her entire fist.

  Much to her surprise though, she’d underestimated her own strength, and instead of simply burning the guy and knocking him backward like his pals, her fist broke through his ribs and lodged in his chest cavity. Oooh. That was really gross. The guy screamed bloody murder, loud enough that she wanted to cover her ears. She yanked her fist back out of his body and watched him collapse instantly like a rag doll.

  Then a shriek alerted her to look in Sherry’s direction, and she saw with horror that Sherry was pinned to the fence by some arrows shot through the shoulders of her shirt. It didn’t look like they’d hit her flesh, but her clothes were stuck and she couldn’t get away as two guys approached her, one with a sword, one with a knife.

  Forgetting her own encroaching attackers, Ember sent a burst of heat through the air to the two guys nearing Sherry. The guys spontaneously combusted, and yelled in pain before dropping to the snow, officially out of commission.

  Sherry, her face pale and eyes wet, turned her head to look at Ember, opened her mouth to say something. Then her eyes went very, unbelievably wide, and she screamed, “EMBER! LOOK OUT!”

  Ember whirled in surprise, but it was too late. The boy behind her, probably no older than herself, grabbed her arm with one hand, and held a knife to her throat with the other. He was almost cute, with scruffy black hair and clear green eyes, but his expression was a mix of loathing and admiration. He ran his gaze down her body and back up, and she recognised the disgusting spark in his eyes.

  “Hello, Poppet. You’re pretty hot for a supernatural, half-breed bitch,” he sneered, and Ember wanted to gag. But the guy continued talking, “You’re going to be coming with me now, and if you fight, I’ll slit your throat,” he growled at her.

  She arched one brow insolently, despite her hammering heart. “I don’t think you will. You lot, no doubt, have been instructed not to spill my blood. But tell you what; if you want to take me somewhere more…private…I’ll go quietly. Surely your boss doesn’t need me right this very minute does he?” She batted her lashes flirtatiously, shoved her leg between his knees.

  The boy looked surprised for a moment, then his eyes narrowed and he smirked. “I guess he could wait a half hour,” the boy said thickly, yanking her closer to him until she was pressed right up against him.

  He started to bend his head toward hers as she slid her hand down his stomach to his jeans. Oh, dear God, guys could get horny in just about any situation, including, apparently, in a fucking battle! And this guy was going to be severely sorry he ever even dared to think about touching her.

  She’d killed the fire on her hands when he’d grabbed her, simply because her focus had snapped, but now, with her hand on this guy’s family jewels, she turned the heat back up again. The boy screamed and thrust her away from him, clutching at the flames between his legs. He dropped to his knees, sobbing, and Ember cast a smirk at him as he glanced up at her. “Whoops. Guess I was too hot for you to handle.” She flicked her fingers at him and watched him flinch, before she turned on her heel and strode away from him.

  Bloody bodies were scattered all over the park, turning the snow to pink slush. Reid was currently draining a large guy with a stake, and as she watched, he snapped the guy’s neck and dropped him unceremoniously to lunge at the nearest opponent.

  Ricky had a slash across his stomach, but it didn’t look deep, and it wasn’t stopping him from doing a somersault over the heads of three humans with knives. He landed in a crouch behind them and swept a leg
at their ankles before they could even register he was gone. They all tumbled to the ground, and Ember was sure she’d heard the crack of bones as Ricky’s leg had collided with the humans’.

  Ember looked around desperately for Sherry and couldn’t see her. Fear and panic bubbled up her chest, as hard as she tried to push it down. Sherry had managed to yank the arrows from the fence and free herself, but now she was—

  She was flittering nine feet off the ground, out of the reach of a gaggle of humans swishing knives at her.

  Enthralled, watching Sherry as a pint sized faery with beautiful, gauzy black and silver wings, Ember almost didn’t sense the female coming up behind her. She didn’t even bother looking away from Sherry as she snapped her fingers, and heard a high-pitched scream soar up behind her, along with a whoomph, like a large amount of petrol igniting right behind her. The heat made her back sweat, but Ember was far more interested in what Sherry was doing.

  Because the pixie girl wasn’t just flying about and irritating the humans because they couldn‘t reach her; No, she was throwing mini snowballs at them! Only, whenever one of the tiny snowballs collided with someone’s skin, they yelled like they’d been burned.

  That was when Ember realised they possibly were. They were getting painful shocks of freezer burn from the orbs of ice-magic Sherry was throwing. She wasn’t throwing snowballs after all. She’d found a way to externalise her power without snow or water. It was incredible. And Ember shouldn’t have been surprised. The first time she’d discovered her ability to lob balls of fire at people was when she’d been in a life-or-death situation. Danger was a good subconscious motivator for amazing magic. Apparently.