by Elicia Hyder
My jaw dropped. “What the…?”
“I was able to patch into a few local channels,” Kane said as we walked up behind them.
I pulled both hands back through my hair. “Holy shit.”
On each screen was aerial footage from different news cameras. Military convoys filled the interstates, some taking up all lanes of traffic in both directions.
“The media is just now putting it together that all those troops are inbound to Asheville. All the interstates and major highways from all sides,” Kane said, pointing to the different screens. “I-40, I-26, 74, 25, 191, 280…It looks like the 2003 invasion of Iraq, sir.”
“What the hell are they doing?” Anya asked.
“There are too many of them to all be coming here,” Cruz said.
A boulder landed in my gut. “They’re going to seal off the city. The Morning Star’s not attacking us. He’s going to attack the city.”
“That’s what it looks like,” Kane agreed.
“How close are they?” I asked him.
“By road? Forty miles, max, via I-40.”
“There’s more not by road?”
“Helicopters have been circling the sky for the past twenty minutes.”
“What kind?” I asked.
“Three light-assault birds, two chinooks, and the fancy transport helo. It’s passed over a few times. My guess is the Morning Star is about to make a grand entrance any minute now. The Father confirmed he was aboard.”
“What about Azrael?”
Kane shook his head. “No way of knowing.”
“Were the assault birds armed?”
“Four gunners each. That’s why the Father started bringing everyone inside. He was afraid the Morning Star’s plan was to pick everyone off from above, knowing you wouldn’t want to harm the human soldiers.”
“I was worried about the same thing,” I admitted.
“There’s more,” Cruz said, his tone grim.
“A couple of fighter planes flew over a few minutes ago,” Kane said.
“He’s going to bomb the city.” I couldn’t believe the words even as they left my mouth.
“Why?” Cruz asked.
“His only other option would be to starve us out. That would take years, and he knows it,” I said.
“And you don’t show up to a party with that many people just to wait outside,” Anya added. “If he attacks civilians, he knows we’ll try to stop him.”
I started toward the door.
“What are you going to do?” Kane called after me.
“I’m going to bring down that helicopter.”
Anya followed me back out to the entry hall. I stopped and faced her. “Maybe you should go find your sister.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Why? Because us womenfolk belong in the bunker?”
I grinned and shook my head. “Never mind. Forgot who I was talking to.”
“Warren!” Cassiel waved me over. She looked a million percent better. Clean hair. Fresh clothes. She was dressed in khaki cargos and a white T-shirt. She had a radio and a pair of high-Z cuffs strapped to her belt.
I sidestepped through the angels coming in. “Who all is here?” I asked.
“You told Gabriel to call them all.” Her clear bright blue eyes were wild with excitement. “Almost a thousand have already been accounted for.”
“Leave the Angels of Death here, but send everyone else to the city,” I said.
She pointed out the door, toward the sky. “But the helicopters—”
“He’s going to attack Asheville. He knows it’s the only way to draw us out of the bunker.”
The Father looked sick. “He knows it’s the only way to get to her.”
By her, he meant Iliana.
“Exactly.”
“He’s right,” the Father said. “Send everyone you can to the city.”
“The guardians are already there,” Cassiel said.
Anya looked up at me. “I should be with them.”
It was hard for me to agree.
Perhaps the Father noticed. “She is their Archangel now,” he said.
I stared at her for a moment. “Find Rogan. Have him take you in the car he stole from Claymore. At least, maybe then, you’ll blend in.”
She nodded.
“Anya,” the Father said as she started away. She turned back toward us. “You have the power of the Archangel now. Use it to repel the people out of the city without causing a panic.”
“I don’t know how,” she admitted.
He reached for her hand, and she took it. “Yes, you do.” A wave of energy pulsed between them, and Anya rocked slightly on her feet.
When he released her, she shook her head to clear it. “I’ll do it,” she said, backing toward the stairs.
Watching him as he watched her, I lifted an eyebrow. “Powerless, huh?”
He smiled. “It’s like nuclear energy, Warren. You can shut down the reactor, but the radiation lingers.”
“Cassiel, how are you feeling?” I asked.
“Like I could kick somebody’s ass today,” she said, lifting her radio to her mouth.
“That’s good. Looks like we might need you to.”
She clicked the button on the radio. “Ionis, tell Gabriel to send everyone else to the city.” She stopped an Angel of Death named Egris at the door.
“I can take care of mine.” I touched my ear and silently called out to the Death Choir. Almost a complete hush fell over the building as the angels listened in.
“Change of plans. The Morning Star is preparing to attack the city. On my order, go and defend it. Take care to not use lethal force against human soldiers, but do whatever is necessary to prevent mass casualty. Watch for bombs overhead.”
The Father was staring at me when I looked up.
“Sorry, Father, but they have bombers. If we have to sacrifice a pilot and crew to save thousands, so be it. They shouldn’t have chosen to follow orders against civilians.”
“I know, but I don’t have to like it,” he said.
I squeezed his shoulder.
Static crackled in my ear. “Warren, it’s Lachlan. Shall we go now?”
I heard the faint chk chk chk of helicopter rotors outside. I touched my ear to answer. “I want everyone to meet me outside first.”
“Outside?” Cassiel’s voice dialed up a few decibels. “You saw what that bullet did to me.”
I put my hands on her shoulders. “You’re right. And I would rather be standing in front of those guns than anyone else. He’s not going to go away, so the sooner he’s dealt with, the safer everyone will be.”
The Angels of Death were lining up at the door. Lachlan led them. I shook his hand. “Good to see you, old friend.”
“You too, sir. Welcome back.”
I stepped into the doorway and searched the sky. “Has anyone seen the Morning Star’s helicopter pass over again?”
The Father shuffled forward to stand beside me. “Not in the last couple of minutes, but it’s flying by regularly. I’m sure he’ll be back.”
“And you don’t know if Azrael is in it?”
He shook his head sadly.
I started outside.
Cassiel grabbed my sleeve. “You can’t be serious!”
“The Morning Star is circling because he’s waiting on something. Probably me.”
“Do you at least have crystal water?” she asked.
“It’s locked in the desk in the infirmary.” I turned to the Father. “But no matter what happens, promise me you won’t let them use it on me.”
I knew the Father would be the only one able to make that call. They wouldn’t listen to anyone else.
Cassiel touched her temples, ready to launch into an argument. “Warren, that’s the most—”
The Father held up a hand to stop her. “I will tell them,” he said to me.
“Thank you.”
Before Cassiel could argue further, I walked out. The Angels of Death were right behind me. At l
east fifty more angels were wandering the grounds. Most of them were Angels of Ministry, and only a few of them were in human form.
I recognized a spirit with yellow eyes. “Shem!”
He looked over, then glided toward me, inches off the ground. “Take your angels to the city. If you can’t encourage the humans to get out of town, try to make them go inside.”
He gave a slight nod, then signaled to the other angels to follow him. They all flew straight up into the air. I watched them until they disappeared. “That’s still so weird,” I said, forgetting other angels were gathering in behind me.
Lachlan was the closest. “What would you have us do?”
“Think we can crash-land some helicopters without killing anyone on board?” I asked.
Lachlan grinned. “Kinda picked the wrong bunch for keeping humans alive, sir.”
“Let’s give it our best shot, OK?” I asked.
He nodded and took a few steps toward me. “Can I ask you a question?”
I lifted my brow.
“Is Samael really dead?”
“Yes.”
Lachlan flinched. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but the Angels of Death had never lost anyone. Azrael had come close, and he was no longer an angel, but he still wasn’t dead.
A worrying thought flashed through me. What if Samael’s death was only the beginning?
My eyes searched the sky as the sound of helicopters echoed off the mountains in every direction. “Come on, you son of a bitch. Where are you?”
A helicopter flew by, but it wasn’t one of Claymore’s fancy transporters. It was a small attack helicopter, and Claymore guards were posted on outboards outside its doors. Their weapons rested in front of them, thankfully.
But I’d been part of this organization before. They were waiting for an order.
An order to open fire.
“That one, sir?” Lachlan asked.
“Not yet. We’re waiting on the big one.”
A few more minutes passed by.
“Warren! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Fury yelled from the building.
When I turned, I saw she’d been to the armory. A rifle was strapped across her chest and a handgun was holstered on her thigh. She wore an armored vest, but at close range, with such a large caliber as these soldiers were carrying, it wouldn’t be enough.
My sword was on her back, and I needed it, but it would have to wait.
Reuel was standing right behind her in the doorway. I locked eyes with him. “Keep her there.”
Fury wouldn’t have been able to hear me, but Reuel’s supersonic hearing hadn’t missed the message. When she started outside, his massive arms closed around her.
If I lived, I’d have hell to pay for that later.
A deeper whomp whomp whomp of another helicopter drew my attention back toward the sky. After a moment, the aircraft crested the peak behind Wolf Gap. It was solid black, with Claymore written in gold down the tail.
Angelic energy surged inside it.
I touched my ear. “Let’s bring that thing down without killing anyone.”
Raising my hands toward it, I blasted my power at the tail, but it ricocheted off without touching it. Some kind of force field protected it.
The helicopter turned and lowered toward the field in front of us. My hair whipped wildly back and forth from the force of the helicopter’s blades as it landed. Its engine died. This wasn’t going to be a drop-and-run flight.
As the rotors slowed, the side doors opened. Four armed human Claymore guards got out, with what looked like M4s on steroids raised in our direction.
The scene was oddly familiar. Our island arrest was a fresh memory. I realized now that if he’d wanted us dead, the Morning Star could have killed us then.
Why didn’t he?
The thought passed as quickly as it came because a woman, instead of the Morning Star, stepped out onto the grass.
Chimera.
Two angels were behind her. One of them was a guardian named Tabris. I’d heard stories from Azrael of when they’d battled during the First Angel War.
Half of Tabris’s face was scarred from the fire Azrael had conjured.
The other, a female I didn’t recognize. She was tall and thin with long, straight black hair.
As they approached, the noise waned from the helicopter. My spirit searched inside it. There were no other angels. Or humans.
Azrael wasn’t here.
I folded my arms. “Chimera.”
The Seramorta, part-human and part-Angel of Knowledge, hadn’t aged quite as much as the rest of the people Fury and I had left behind. Probably thanks to her proximity to the Morning Star.
But she’d matured from the cyberpunk I’d known before. Her hair was still short, but no longer spiked, and she was missing her piercings. Instead of fishnets and combat boots, she wore a black button-up with the sleeves rolled up her forearms and simple gray slacks.
Her hands were stuffed in her pockets as she approached. “So it’s true. You’re still alive.” She stopped in front of me.
“And you are still a conniving thief. I guess some things never change.”
She smirked.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“You know what we want. We want Iliana.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Would you really let the entire city burn? Would she?” She looked around, probably hoping to spot Iliana nearby.
My eyes narrowed.
“Here’s the deal.” She looked at her watch. “In eleven minutes, all the main roads in and out of Asheville will be blocked with tanks and armed soldiers. No one will be able to escape. And five minutes after that, we lay waste to your beautiful city.”
“Or?”
“Or she comes peacefully with us, and we pull back all our troops.”
“Where’s my father?”
“If Iliana complies, you can have Azrael too. The Morning Star has even promised to remove the poison inside him.”
“Because promises from the Morning Star mean so much to me,” I said. “Why does he want her?”
“Truthfully?”
“Can you manage such a thing?”
“He wants her dead.”
Because without Iliana, he would be the most powerful angel on Earth. Not even the Father could rival him.
“One life for a few hundred thousand.” She looked at her watch again. “You have nine minutes. Think it over. I’ll wait.” She started back toward the helicopter.
There was no way I was giving up my daughter. The Morning Star might spare the city today, but his mission was to destroy mankind. Hell, he might get Iliana and blow up the city today anyway. That’s the thing with demons—the only thing you can trust is that you can’t trust them.
Ever.
The Father hobbled outside, and I went to meet him. “He wants Iliana?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He grabbed my arm. “She’s the only hope we have.”
“I know. We need to keep her below.”
“What do you want us to do?” Lachlan asked.
I touched my ear so he would hear me, along with all the angels standing behind him. But before I could speak, Cassiel rushed out of the building, carrying her radio. “Warren, we have a problem.” She was looking all around.
“What’s wrong?”
“Iliana is…”
An engine revving snagged my attention somewhere in the distance. There were plenty of cars on the property, but none of them seemed to be occupied. My first thought was Anya, leaving with Rogan, but I hadn’t seen them come out of the building yet.
Then I saw it.
Across the property, one of the garage-bay doors opened. A black car screeched its tires on the concrete and sent up a cloud of black smoked as it peeled out.
My black car.
The Challenger.
Nathan and Lex ran through the smoke it left behind.
As the car screamed by, I sa
w Jett clutching the “oh shit” handle in the passenger’s seat. Iliana had both hands on the wheel, her eyes set straight ahead.
I was so stunned, I couldn’t even move.
When I finally turned, Chimera stood by the helicopter door, her jaw dropped. She touched her ear to use her phone, as she couldn’t communicate like the angels. “Iliana is on her way to the city—”
Suddenly, sparks sizzled all over the helicopter. Electricity ripped through it like it had been struck by lightning, but it was a cloudless day. The pilot in the cockpit was blasted backward, his head bouncing off his seatback.
“Hello? Hello?” Chimera was calling out. She swore. “Phone’s dead. What the hell happened?”
The confused pilot pulled himself back to the controls. He pressed buttons, then lifted his hands. The aircraft was dead. So was Chimera’s communication.
A shimmer beyond the cockpit glass caught my eyes. Inside, Dr. Jordan was waving.
I touched my ear. “Angels, seize them!”
The Angels of Death swarmed the helicopter. Tabris and the tall female angel fought back. The guards opened fire. Two of my angels were immediately hit.
“Warren!” Fury screamed from the doorway.
I turned to see her holding my sword. Spreading my wings, I sailed forward and grabbed it by its hilt before spinning backward to dive-bomb the helicopter.
I buried the blade in Tabris’s skull.
Lachlan had wrestled a gun from a guard. He used it to shoot the tall female demon twice. Once in the chest. The other in the center of her forehead. Neither bullet would kill her instantly.
Chimera was hiding behind her when she fell.
I landed a few feet in front of them. Chimera was visibly shaking as I approached, dragging the tip of my sword through the grass. The angel was convulsing on the ground as I stepped over her. I grabbed Chimera by the throat.
Then I tossed my sword up to flip my hand over. When I caught it, I drove the blade straight down through the demon’s neck. Her spirit screeched and hissed as it fizzled to nothing.
Chimera was choking.
Good.
She fought against my arm, her feet kicking wildly as I held her inches off the ground.
“You want my daughter, huh?” I squeezed until my fingers turned white. “Maybe torture her a bit before you kill her. Like testing weapons on her to kill us?”
