Angelfire

by Courtney Allison Moulton

  She grabbed hold of my shoulders, swung me into a strung-up fishing net, and then smashed me into a set of shelves. Clutter rained down on me, and I fought my way to the surface, clawing free of the net. Ivar's fingers curled around my shirt and lifted me until I was eye level with her.

  "I'm going to enjoy kil ing you," she sneered. "And when you come back, I'l enjoy kil ing you again. If the Enshi doesn't eat your soul, I'l gladly eat your heart."

  Instead of replying, I stabbed her in the gut with a Khopesh. Her eyes bulged and she dropped me. I pul ed the flaming sword out and slashed, but she caught my wrist before my blade could catch her skin, and she hissed, pul ing her lips back viciously.

  "Wrong move." Her flesh healed shut with only an ugly marbled scar left behind. She lashed her black power at me, striking me across the chest like a whip, and I staggered back. I shook off the blow and saw her lunge for me through the smoky remains of her attack. My own power detonated in a deafening explosion of white and col ided with her. It blew her through the cabin, and she crashed through the wal and flew back out on the other side of the deck in an explosion of fiberglass and steel.

  Ivar hit the deck and climbed shakily to her feet as I stepped through the wreckage of the cabin. Instead of coming for me again, she snapped her eyes to the side, and my gaze fol owed hers. Wil stood there with his hands at his sides.

  "Wil iam!" she sneered, her voice ringing out over the crashing waves. "So good of you to join us!"

  Wil said nothing and threw his arms up and fired Nathaniel's two pistols into Ivar's body. Bul ets ripped through her chest, spraying blood like confetti, forcing her back. She jerked and screeched as he unloaded both clips into her. When the guns clacked empty, Wil dropped the clips, reloaded effortlessly, and began firing again.

  A hand fel on my shoulder and I swung a sword. Nathaniel caught my arm. "Hey, it's me."

  I breathed a sigh of relief and hugged him. "I thought you were dead."

  He shook his head when I let him go. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"

  "Yeah." I looked beyond him for Wil and spotted him fighting Ivar hand to hand now. Her dress was riddled with bloody holes, but she appeared unharmed. "Where's Geir?" I asked Nathaniel frantical y, grabbing his shoulder.

  "He must be below."

  We rushed past Ivar and Wil , saying a silent prayer for him to be alive the next time I saw him. Nathaniel kicked the door to the hold open. It swung wide and we descended into the dim, greenish-blue light. The dank odor of the room fil ed my nose, and I heard a faint, raspy whimper from somewhere within the darkness. I strained my eyes and spotted the untouched sarcophagus. But who else was down there?

  Nathaniel threw a hand over my chest and I froze. A dark shape rose, and a head swiveled toward us, revealing the shark-mouthed face of Geir, his teeth stained red, his yel ow eyes mad like a wild animal's. The light coming in through the door cast a sickly glow across his pale skin and mud-colored wings. Held tightly to the reaper's chest was Jose, gaping unseeingly at the ceiling, his complexion ashen. A chunk of his throat had been torn out, but the massive wound wasn't leaking nearly as much blood as it should have been. Geir had drunk it al .

  "Your Guardian injured me greatly," Geir rasped, glistening blood dribbling from his lips and down his chin. "I needed to feed in order to heal and finish you off, Preliator. I'm much stronger now that I've had a snack."

  Overwhelming revulsion made me stagger back on my heels, nearly col apsing to the floor. Geir tossed Jose's body to the side, but with so much force that the poor man flew twenty feet and crashed into the wal . Geir turned to face us squarely, and I could see that his clothing was shredded and soaked dark with his own blood. The only satisfaction I had was the knowledge that Wil had done that to him. Nathaniel raised the shotgun, but Geir was there in an instant. His monster hands yanked the shotgun away from Nathaniel and chucked it at the wal hard enough to snap the barrel off the stock. He grabbed Nathaniel by the throat and hurled him at the same wal . Faster than my eyes could see, Geir was on top of Nathaniel, throwing punch after punch. Nathaniel ducked, and then Geir's fist plunged through the steel wal of the hul . He pul ed it back in and water burst through. The metal had flayed Geir's hands to ribbons, and his blood cascaded into the salt water pouring inside, but the reaper's skin healed quickly. Water rushed into the hold with a thundering noise. The ship was going to sink.

  A wave of fury washed over me, crashing heavily. I was tired of it al . The monster in front of me had slaughtered innocent people only because he could. He'd hurt me, terrified me, hurt Wil , who had tried to defend me, kil ed humans who had tried to defend me when they couldn't even defend themselves. Al of this would be over. I'd end it tonight.

  "El ie!"

  Wil 's voice came from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, not ready for him to interfere. He could sense what raged through me, but I wouldn't let him stop me this time. I could control my power. I could control myself. There was no madness coursing through me this time but only fury in its purest, darkest form. My power spiraled around me, pushing the water at my feet away.

  "No." I threw my power at Wil and it hit him like a wal , preventing him from coming any closer.

  He threw his shoulder into the barrier, but I didn't give him another inch. His eyes, bright in the gloom, met mine, but his gaze was firm, as if he could read my mind and knew it was no use trying to bring me back from the edge. Even if he wanted to stop me, calm me down, it would be impossible. At that moment, as my power pounded on the inside of every last inch of my skin, desperate for release, I was very aware of how much damage I could to him and everything else on that ship.

  "Get the sarcophagus!" Nathaniel roared as he fought off the demonic vir. "Throw it over before Ivar takes off with it!"

  Wil 's gaze left mine at last and he nodded. He bolted to the wooden box containing the sarcophagus, sweeping it up over his head effortlessly. He ran back up the stairs.

  "No!" Geir shrieked. He darted away from Nathaniel, but I caught him with my sword in his bel y before he escaped. He snarled at me, sharp teeth bared, and grabbed my throat, squeezing hard. His other hand clenched my wrist and pul ed my sword from his body as flames of angelfire lapped up his chest. Time slowed, and everything around me blurred except for Geir. He swiped his talons at my face, but I jumped back and swung my swords. The flames slashed through the darkness, casting twisted flashes of light and shadows across our faces. My blades sliced across his bel y, but not deeply enough to kil him. I kicked him in the chest as hard as I could and he soared backward, smacking into the far wal .

  "Nathaniel!" I shouted.

  He turned to me, eyes wild.

  "Go help Wil ! I'l keep Geir busy."

  His mouth dropped. "But--?"

  "Go!"

  He obeyed, disappearing from the hold. I spun back to face the reaper, who grinned at me as his bel y wounds closed up and scarred within seconds.

  "Now it's just you and me, baby," he sneered, his eyes cold yet blinding like sunlight.

  I stepped back on my heel, summoning my power. The trawler shivered and groaned.

  Geir launched himself toward me, and as I raised my sword, he vanished right in front of me. I swung, slicing through air, and he reappeared to my right. I slashed my other sword at him but met only his disembodied laughter echoing through the hold as his form disappeared into the darkness.

  "You're going to die down here, little girl," his voice sneered.

  My eyes searched around me, and my heart pounded with fear. If I couldn't see him, then how could I fight him? I let the fury wrap around me, drowning out every distraction, every creak and whine of the ship, the rushing of water, everything but the heartbeat of my enemy stalking me from somewhere in the blackness. I felt none of the uncontrol able bloodlust that had consumed me during my final battle against Ragnuk; instead, my mind was now disturbingly clear as I ached to release my power. Now it obeyed me, not the other way around.

  I felt energy flicker behind m
e and spun like a tornado, swinging the flaming Khopesh up. The blade cut through Geir's throat. He staggered back, spil ing blood, gurgling and clutching at the wound. When his skin didn't burst into flames, I knew my strike hadn't been enough to kil him. With a cry, I stabbed my other sword up and under his rib cage, destroying his heart. He col apsed forward onto me, drenching me in his blood. I shoved him off of me, disgusted, and ripped my sword back out. I felt the hook on the back of the blade catch on his ribc age, and things inside ripped and crunched as I wrenched the Khopesh free.

  Geir staggered toward me, his face twisting in horror and agony. One hand fel away from his throat and grasped at his torn chest. A dark, brackish flood spread from his wounds, and flames erupted over every inch of him, licking over his body and drowning him in light. His claws swung at me, engulfed in angelfire, until they crumbled into ashes. In moments the rest of his body burned up, his flapping wings vanishing last, until nothing remained of the reaper but ashes drifting in the water rising to my knees.

  I froze. Something heavy settled on me, like a great power, but not my own. It weighed down on me like a thick blanket of snow and just as cold, with an immense strength that seemed to slow down al my senses and even time itself. I turned my head to look behind me, fearful of what I might see, and my body fol owed my gaze.

  A silhouette shaped like a man stood in the hold's entrance at the bottom of the stairs. His black form was etched in the light from the deck, and feathered wings spread wide as if he'd just landed. He stepped closer to me, the light bil owing around him so that I could at last see his face. He didn't appear much older than me or Wil . His white wings folded into his back and vanished. His power rol ed from him like a storm, but he felt like a black hole, sucking in every last bit of oxygen, so I was left feeling dizzy and il .

  "Hel o, El ie," the reaper said, his voice smooth and cool as chil ed butter. "I am Bastian."

  UNCORRECTED E-PROOF--NOT FOR SALE

  HarperCollins Children's Books

  ..................................................................... 32

  I STARED HELPLESSLY AT BASTIAN'S HAUNTING face. His smoky black power pul ed at mine, like fingers combing through my hair and brushing my face gently like flutters of eyelashes. His eyes were the brightest, most unnatural blue I had ever seen, a toxic cerulean. He seemed so familiar to me, as if I had met him before, but I couldn't recal when or where. Even his energy, at a level deep below what I felt on the surface, seemed familiar.

  "Red is a good color on you," he said at last.

  Bile rose in my throat. I was drenched in Geir's blood. The dirty, salty smel revolted me. I held my breath, desperate to keep from retching in front of Bastian. "Where's Ivar? Where are my friends?"

  "Ivar is destroying the angelic vir on the upper decks. They're lost to you now."

  No! I wanted to scream, but no words escaped my lips. I cried out and rushed forward, swinging my blade, but a blinding wal of black power hit me al over and launched me back through the air. I crashed into the far wal and climbed to my feet with my arms and legs aching. Bastian's power had bruised my skin and torn the cloth of my shirt, but the pain and wounds vanished in seconds.

  "I'm not here to kil you," he said.

  I glared. "No? Wel , I'm stil going to kick your ass."

  He watched me, his eyes examining me so thoroughly, I felt like an animal on exhibit at a zoo. "How charming. I am so pleased to final y meet you."

  "We've never met before?" I asked, surprised. Then why did I feel certain that I knew him? Surely I'd met him in a past life. His face . . . He was so familiar.

  "No, my dear," he said, his voice soft, but I heard him perfectly over noise of water rushing into the hold, swal owing my shoes.

  "So you thought you'd swing by with your buddies and kil us al ?" My fingers clenched my sword tighter.

  "I'm here for the sarcophagus and that is al . If I kil you now, then al this would have been for nothing."

  "Where's Cadan?" I asked. "He decide to sit this one out?"

  Something dark flickered in Bastian's smile. "He and I don't quite share the same sympathies."

  I studied his face, trying to find any emotion to read, but he revealed nothing. "Just fight me already!"

  His form blurred, and he appeared suddenly right in front of my face. His voice was a whisper, seething with malice. "I know what you are."

  "What?" I asked without thinking.

  Bastian drifted away from me, spreading his white feathered wings wide. "Your very presence breaks al the rules."

  My body locked up until I felt like I was about to break.

  "What are you talking about?" I asked through clenched teeth.

  "You hide among the humans you love, and in doing so, you gamble with their lives."

  My temper flared. "I'm not gambling with their lives!"

  His smile darkened to pitch-black. "Don't be angry. Selfishness is only a side effect of living in this mortal world. It's very human, don't you think?"

  "Humans have taught me compassion," I said. "The best parts of me exist because I was taught to love and to be kind. What can you say? That you've only kil ed and tormented creatures weaker than you?"

  That smile faded. "For one so very ancient, you certainly are naive. Do you think you're better than me? You know even less about me than you do about yourself. Little girl, you are barely any different from me."

  And he vanished, blurring from sight. I stared at the space he had just occupied. Was he lying? Did he real y know what I was? Fear lapped at my ankles in the form of swel ing, icecold seawater. I shook my head, steadied my nerves, and splashed up to the main deck. I swung around the cabin and spotted Nathaniel just as he hurled the sarcophagus over the side of the boat. My heart leaped for joy--but crashed right back down again when I saw Ivar dive into the ocean after it. A shadow passed over my head, and I spun around, preparing for attack. Wil landed. Spreading out from his back was a pair of ivory wings-- wings! I staggered away from him in shock. The feathers glistened in the moonlight, pearlescent. They were absolutely beautiful. He looked like an angel towering over me, and his electric green eyes met mine for a brief, terrible moment. He folded his wings above his back and spread them wide again before shakily returning them to his body. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Al I could do was stare at him as he col apsed to the deck, holding a hand over his chest. When I saw darkness spreading over his shirt, I knew he was badly hurt.

  "Wil !" I screamed, running to his side in terror. He doubled over and his wings stretched over us, cloaking us in shadow. When I reached for him, he pul ed away from me, his face showing more than just his physical pain. I wanted to hit him hard for keeping the fact that he had wings from me, but as soon as I saw them, I remembered them as if I'd seen them only yesterday.

  His pul ed his face away from my hands and shivered.

  "Don't--"

  "Let me see," I said.

  His wings shook and shuddered. "I don't want--"

  I laid my hand over his and pul ed it away from the wound.

  "Let. Me. See."

  He closed his eyes in agony and al owed me to move his hand. It was worse than I thought. Blood leaked from a wound in his chest. I panicked and rol ed his shirt up. He grimaced and let out a choked oath. My lips went numb when I got a good look at the extent of his injuries. A hole bigger than my fist had been punched right through the center of his chest. I forced my eyes away when nausea boiled in my gut. He gasped and gagged as if he couldn't breathe.

  "My lungs--" he sputtered.

  I looked at him frantical y, touching his face. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help you!"

  He grabbed my hand and clenched it tight. "Can't breathe

  --just wait--"

  The glow in his eyes dimmed, and my worst fear whispered in the back of my mind. Was this one of those wounds too severe to heal? "You can't die," I told him. "I can't do this without you!"

  "Just wait--" he repeated, closing h
is eyes and grimacing.

  The hole in his chest began to fil in, and his skin started to cover it over. His breathing became less ragged and his hold on my hand loosened. "I said . . . to just wait. . . ."

  My smile widened, and relief overwhelmed me. I had completely forgotten about the sarcophagus. I smoothed Wil 's shirt back down and took a deep breath. "You're okay,"

  I sighed, elated.

  "Of course I am," he said in a weak voice. "But I didn't want you to see me like this. I didn't want you to see them--

  not before you remembered."

  There was no time for any questions. Another shadow loomed over us, and I craned my neck back to see Bastian perched on top of the cabin, silently watching Wil and me with a blank expression. I heard a great splash behind me as I helped Wil to his feet. His wings vanished, and we turned around. Ivar surfaced without the sarcophagus, her soakingwet hair matted and stringy but one arm hanging limply at an odd angle. I looked more closely, and as Ivar dropped her head back and screeched in fury, I saw why her arm looked so strange. Her shoulder blade was exposed, her arm ripped from its socket, her body torn wide open, and her col arbone stabbing out in plain sight. She held her uninjured hand wrapped across her chest and pul ed her ripped-off shoulder back to her body. The muscles and veins strung back together, weaving in and out, pushing out dead flesh and sealing up what was left until she was perfectly healed. Her throat was a deep red, as if someone had grabbed hold of it savagely in order to tear her arm off, but that injury too was fading.

  I stared in horror. My eyes found Wil , whose hands were covered in blood. An icy-cold feeling rushed through my body. Had he done that?

  "Surrender, Preliator!" Bastian cal ed from the top of the cabin.

  I looked back up, and he stepped off the edge, landing light as a feather on the deck, his wings folding into his back.

  "You've lost, Bastian!" I shouted. "Geir is dead and the Enshi is at the bottom of the ocean!"