Angel Falls (Cassandra Bick Chronicles Book 3)

by Sinclair, Tracey

  ‘Mey! Mey! She’s falling!’ I screamed, not caring what people thought now. I hammered on the window. ‘Katie! Let him drop! Let him go!’ But of course she couldn’t hear me, though she must have seen me, and instead of helping, it made her worse. Seeing the crowds and the carnage inside, she panicked, and like a drowning woman who lashes out at the lifeguard trying to save her, her body took over and reverted to her preferred form. For a moment, a leopard thrashed wildly in the air. It was only a moment, but it was enough. She and Laclos were more tangled than ever, and, her instincts compromised, the pair of them rocketed towards the water.

  Then there was a surge of energy so fierce I thought it was the angels again, and I was literally knocked right on my arse as a wave of power surged past me. Fear for her fiancée had done what no amount of practising or hoping had managed, and whatever guilt or remorse had been crippling her magic was overwhelmed by the power of the love Medea felt and her drive to protect the woman who inspired it. Katie flapped, startled, as a gust of air swept her and Laclos upwards and then dumped them unceremoniously onto the roof of the walkway, almost on top of a startled Val.

  There was a weighted pause, as the guests looked upwards, wondering what the hell would happen next. Then Val stood up and, looking every inch the goddess she was, pulled a sword from the scabbard behind her (another sword? The same one? How did a soul sword even work?) then plunged it into the panel of glass she was standing on. As it shattered to pieces beneath her feet, she put an arm almost casually around Laclos’ waist and jumped, lightly as a cat, into the room below her, as Katie flew to safety.

  Laclos looked around the room with a smile, and put a hand to his bare chest in an exaggerated gesture, eyes wide and gleaming, clearly in no hurry for the beautiful woman to let him go.

  ‘My,’ he beamed, taking in the room. ‘Wasn’t that exciting?’

  Chapter 29

  There was a moment of stunned silence, of communal breath being held. Some of the humans in the room started to applaud, driven less by what they’d seen than by some atavistic sense of self-preservation. If they were clapping, this had to be a show, and that meant they had to be safe. But looking at the fallen Jonesy, who was dangerously pale, and trembling, a glowering, blood-spattered Cain and the furious vampires who were picking bits of broken champagne glass out of their faces, it felt like a tenuous illusion. I thought that all it would take was for one person to panic, a single scream, and the whole room would go mad.

  Then Laclos took a step forward, and bowed low from the waist, and when he lifted his gaze his dark eyes were shining. A vampire’s compulsion is a subtle, personal thing, but in the same way intimacy with Laclos seemed to affect the range of my Sense, Cain’s blood had a similar effect on Laclos’ ability to compel. I’d seen him convince a street full of strangers our blood-soaked band were actors and, although weaker now, I could feel the power of his compulsion spread like a mist. It wouldn’t work completely on anyone, but it worked a little bit on everyone, a calming infusion that took the edge off their apprehension. It might have looked mean at the time, but Cain’s impromptu mouth to mouth transfusion had done some good. Laclos straightened slowly, arms held out in that familiar, Messianic pose, and suddenly everyone in the room was clapping, relief flooding off them in waves, thrilled and dazzled by such wonderful illusions. Nonetheless, they were heading to the exits. Laclos might have calmed them, but they were united in a very strong desire to suddenly be Anywhere Else.

  Our little group, unaffected, stood like survivors cast ashore in the wreckage. Medea was tending to Jonesy, and a hastily dressed Katie pushed through the departing crowds to help. She must have gone to one of the towers and shifted – she’d pulled on a coat that she’d purloined from somewhere, legs and feet bare beneath it, since her spare clothes were with Mariko. Val, sword at her side, moved towards Cain, unbothered by the fact she’d just put a bloody great hole in the roof of a national monument, and I tried not to notice how suited they looked, fierce partners in the war. Josephine was watching the scene with her usual coolness, and two vampires had moved to flank her: but I Sensed they were scared, and their protection was pretty much for show. Amalthea was a fading red blur to my Sense – she’d obviously made herself scarce when the roof came in – and I wondered if, in our triumph, we were letting the real bad guy escape.

  ‘Well, if it seems I must occasionally play the damsel, I cannot think of anyone I would prefer to be rescued by,’ Laclos purred, with an openly appreciative glance at the Valkyrie, who looked like she didn’t mind his attention one bit. So that wasn’t potentially problematic or anything. Then he turned to Josephine, and his expression hardened. ‘But I do believe I have made my point. This battle needs to end. I will concede that, in my anger, I… overstepped. But you have had your show of recrimination, and I have made it clear that I have allies at my call that are beyond your imagining.’

  Josephine looked impassive, and when she spoke, it was to the room, not to us. Once again, she was speaking to be overheard, and I had a feeling that, wherever the faux-teenage vampire had run to, Amalthea would be receiving this message.

  ‘You expect us merely to concede?’

  ‘You have taken the bulk of my family. You may keep them, distribute them among your ranks as you wish. They will compensate you for your losses. I find I have lost the taste for such fickle company. I shall therefore leave those in charge of the clans where they are – they shall have their power, providing they do not use it against me. But we go back to the accords. No more cannon fodder. No more children turned.’ Anger flickered in his eyes at that, and Josephine’s voice was ice.

  ‘You know that was not me,’ she said, so forcefully that I believed her. I remembered how no trace of her had been in Laclos’ lair, how surprised she had looked at Mika’s murder. But Laclos merely gave a cool nod.

  ‘We are each the sum of our worst alliances,’ he shrugged, and his gaze slid over Cain as he said it. I wondered what insight the blood gave him to Cain’s past. I couldn’t imagine it would be a pleasant experience.

  Josephine cast a glance at the pile of dust that had been her ally, then her eyes flicked to the door, to the direction my Sense told me Amalthea had gone.

  ‘I will pass your message onto those who need to hear it,’ she conceded, with a bow of her head. Then, she swept out of the room, vampires hurrying to keep up with her. I wondered who else had noticed that, as she’d straightened up from that bow, she’d winked. I turned to Laclos, astonished, though I looked around to make sure we were vampire-free before speaking.

  ‘She’s been on your side all along?’ I demanded, and even Cain looked surprised.

  ‘Sides are such a human concept,’ Laclos shrugged. ‘It was in her interest to initially stand with those who were against me – I was, after all, in the wrong. But Josephine and I are friends of old – we were privateers together, for a while – so when it was apparent that the madness had passed and, indeed, that I might emerge unscathed, or even triumphant, it behove her to ensure that whichever side held sway, she would still be in favour.’

  ‘Wow, that’s cold,’ Cain muttered, approvingly.

  ‘We are cold creatures,’ Laclos smiled, clearly unbothered by the fact that his so-called old friend would have watched him reduced to ashes without moving to interfere. I also felt we were missing a key point here.

  ‘You were a pirate?’

  Laclos grinned. Of course he bloody was. Also:

  ‘Did she really kill someone over a pair of boots?’

  Another grin, and I suddenly realised that, for all her another-day-at-the-office attire, Josephine was as much a showman as he was.

  ‘Darling, do you have any idea how difficult it is to get blood stains out of suede?’

  Chapter 30

  ‘OK, this jolly banter is all well and good,’ snapped Katie, looking up from her patient. ‘But we need to get this man to a hospital.’

  ‘Ah, yes. Good point.’

  Her w
ords wrenched us back to reality: and the reality was, we needed to move. We’d caused structural damage to a national monument, we’d raised the bridge’s bascules – they were still up, and the traffic was getting noisier in its protests, approaching police sirens now in the mix. And though the vampires had scarpered with Josephine, I couldn’t help notice some of the shadier looking humans were lingering, and suspected that getting Laclos out of here before one of the hunters took their chance at a lucky shot would be a sensible idea. If the accords were back in place, the hit was off, no matter who it was that sanctioned it– but that would be tomorrow, and nobody would be able to blame a hunter for a kill that happened in the midst of such chaos. I was also starting to regret telling people the name of my business. I would just have to hope that when the call for explanations and reparations came, it would be directed at the name on the booking form, not me, and the vampires could pay or compel their way out of it.

  We headed to the north bank, since that was the side of the river we needed to be on, closer to both my place and St Paul’s. Leon had parked his getaway car there – Mariko’s was on the other side – and he was waiting for us next to the vehicle. He greeted us with a nod and, since sunrise was fast approaching, we said our brief goodbyes and he bundled Laclos unceremoniously into the back seat and sped off. Which left us with our own problems.

  ***

  Jonesy was spread out in the back of Cain’s car – another vehicle he seemed to have mysteriously appropriated; I never asked where he got them or where they went. His head in Katie’s lap, he was pale and shaking. His arm, miraculously, seemed to have reattached, and I could feel a low level stream of magic flowing to him from Medea, but he still looked in pretty bad shape.

  ‘We need to get him to the hospital,’ Katie repeated, but Cain, still outside the car with the rest of us, shook his head.

  ‘And tell them what? He got his arm torn off but it’s OK cos the vampire blood has healed him? They’ll lock him up. They’ll lock us all up.’

  ‘He could die!’

  ‘No… he’s right, no hospital,’ Jonesy croaked. ‘I’m OK.’ This last was undermined by the fact that he tried to sit up, but even saying that exhausted him and he sank back into Katie’s arms. She sighed, unhappily.

  ‘OK, we take him to ours, I have supplies there. But if he gets worse, I’m calling an ambulance. And we need to go now.’

  Jonesy reached out and grabbed Cain’s wrist.

  ‘Call Lee. Get him to come for me. Please.’

  Cain nodded, seemingly conceding to both things (I assumed ‘Lee’ must be the Smith in the Smith and Jones marriage). He went to get in the driver’s seat, but Val stepped towards him.

  ‘Husband.’

  He turned, impatient to be gone, but something in her tone stopped him.

  ‘I believe with the battle won, I should take my leave. Unless, that is…’ she paused, and put a hand to his face with more tenderness than I had thought her capable of. ‘I will stay and fight, if you ask me. I will bring my sisters. We will engage them in a war that will see this very world quake, and I will make them comprehend that you are under my protection – now, and forever. Until death do us part.’

  I could see, then, how desperately she wanted him to say yes, and I thought maybe angels weren’t the only ones cursed to love for eternity. But he put his hand gently over hers, and he shook his head.

  ‘This is not your battle, my wife. I committed the transgression. I will pay for it. But I thank you, truly, for your offer.’ He put her hand to his lips, and then let her go. She was scowling at me – I think she wanted me to argue her case. Whatever rivalry we might have, she knew I agreed with her on the stupidity of angel rules. But I said nothing. I had my own promises to keep. She leaned into the car to speak to Medea and the increasingly impatient Katie.

  ‘I thank you for your hospitality.’ Then she turned back to me. ‘For one so naturally feeble, you are valiant,’ she said, and I surprised myself by being quite chuffed at the compliment. She frowned at Cain.

  ‘Farewell then, husband. We will meet again, in this life or the next.’

  ‘I look forward to it, my wife.’

  For a moment, I thought they would kiss, but instead, with a glance at me, she simply inclined her head slightly in a bow, and strode off into the lightening night.

  We got into the car and headed back to Katie and Medea’s, and I found myself looking for her as we pulled away. I might have exhausted any jealousy I’d had about their relationship, but I still envied her – I wished I could believe in an afterlife, some glorious Valhalla where the dead were united. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I lost Cain today, it would be forever.

  Chapter 31

  We dropped Katie and Medea at their place – taking a route back over the river that avoided the chaos we’d just caused – and helped them get Jonesy inside. Whatever had happened with her magic, Medea obviously had her mojo back, because by the time we got them home, Jonesy – though still very weak – was well enough to call his husband himself, and his colour was almost back to normal. We gave him privacy to make his call, following the women into the kitchen, where Medea put the kettle on and the pair of them set about making tea and herbal infusions, as Katie pulled a first aid kit from the cupboard, though there seemed little for her to do now but administer pain killers and keep an eye on the patient.

  ‘Will he be OK?’ I asked the room in general, not sure who would be best placed to give me the right answer.

  ‘I doubt he’ll ever get the full use of that arm back,’ Cain said, matter-of-factly, helping himself to a beer from the fridge, though with a gesture asking permission from Medea. He offered me one, but the thought of it turned my stomach, though I nodded gratefully as Katie held up a mug and a tea bag. ‘There’s a limit to what vampire blood can do, and it’s not like Josephine reattached it with surgical precision. But he’ll live, and Smith is a good guy, seems pretty devoted. I’m sure they’ll be OK.’ He turned to Katie. ‘He’ll need close watching for a few hours, see if he crashes when the blood wears off.’

  She nodded, handing me a mug of tea, and pouring one for her and Medea, who was busy brewing one of her evil-smelling herbal concoctions. She took a long sip, then sat down, her expression serious.

  ‘So, is someone going to explain to me what happened in there? I don’t recall raising the bridge being part of the plan.’

  She was looking accusingly at Cain, and looked shocked when I was the one who spoke.

  ‘I asked the angels to help us,’ I admitted, sheepishly. ‘Aeylith seemed… pretty conflicted, and I hoped we could use that. She owes Cain. She can’t call off their mission, but she could keep him alive to fulfil it.’ Whatever mercy that was, I added mentally. Cain wasn’t looking at me, but I could tell he knew I wasn’t giving them the full story. Katie, sensibly, asked the obvious question.

  ‘So why didn’t they just bamf Laclos out of there and save us all the trouble?’

  ‘Bamf?’ Cain and Medea echoed, at the same time.

  ‘Teleport, like Nightcrawl… never mind.’ She frowned. It’s hard to be a geek in a non-geeky relationship. ‘It’s a superhero thing.’

  ‘He’s an undead abomination, apparently.’ I shrugged. ‘They couldn’t help him directly.’

  ‘They really do like their rules, don’t they?’ Katie muttered, bitterly. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’

  ‘I wasn’t sure they’d do it. I thought it smart not to make our plan depend on it. I’m sorry. If it didn’t work out, I figured it was best no one knew I’d asked.’

  I hung my head, embarrassed by my cowardice – not wanting to admit I also hadn’t wanted Cain to know if his ex-love refused even this favour. But he put his arm around me and kissed me lightly on the top of the head, and somehow I knew that he understood my reasons.

  ‘So what happens now?’ Medea asked, her voice plaintive. Cain shrugged.

  ‘I go with them. Wherever they want to take me, whatever they w
ant to do to me.’

  We all must have looked appalled at that, because he forced a smile.

  ‘C’mon, it’s not like they could take my wings again, is it?’ He shrugged, which confused the women, who I remembered had missed out on that grisly explanation. I really could use that ‘who knows what’ chart. He put down his beer. ‘We’re gonna leave you to it. Tell Jonesy to tell Smith I said hello.’

  Chapter 32

  After being bidden farewell with fierce hugs from Katie and Medea – all of us women a little teary, Cain as cool as ever though not, I thought, unmoved by their distress – we drove back to my place. I had a million questions, a million things I wanted to say, but my throat was blocked with unshed tears and I felt if I said anything, I would start to cry and wouldn’t be able to stop. I was also worn out with exhaustion, my body wracked by the adrenaline, alcohol and the effect on my Sense of the angels and vampires. I was anxious about what would happen – would the police call me? I really shouldn’t have given out my business name. I was relieved about saving Laclos. But beneath it all, I had the bone-hollowing terror that I was about to lose Cain, that he was surrendering to some terrible fate from which he would emerge broken, if at all. It seemed an impossibly high price to pay for a decision that had been made in the heat of a fight and had been, after all, an act of kindness. He’d given his blood to save Laclos’ life. How could beings that called themselves angels see that as a thing to be punished?

  But if Cain felt anything, he hid it as well as usual. He made us coffee and fed the cat, and then fixed himself a banana and Nutella bagel, pushing half of it to me.

  ‘You should eat something.’

  My stomach was still fizzing, but I knew he was right, so I forced some food down, each mouthful like a stone.