“I promise I won’t get in the way...unless I’m needed.”
“Good. One less thing I have to worry about,” I chided, and Samuel shook his head with a half-smile as if I took the words right out of his mouth.
***
As evening rolled over the neighborhood, I saw Sam grow tense. He had known the time would come eventually, but now that the plan was coming into action, he would have to let me go and let me be the lure, something he was never good at, letting me go into danger.
When the window creaked, I sensed Kian on the other side and darted to the glass frame to open it. As I drew the thin curtain upward, my eyes met his amber-fire pupils, and I sighed in half-relief, half-ecstasy. The mere vision of him turned me on nowadays. The energy between us only grew in intensity every day we couldn’t touch.
Like a delicate perching bird, Kian slipped off the outside edge of the window, and, in ballerina plié landed in my bedroom. Samuel stood by the closet without ever taking his eyes off of Kian. Angel or not, he didn’t know him as well as I did, and who knew if he could really trust him? Besides, the wings pretty much put anyone into a state of momentary wonderment.
“Are you ready?” Kian brushed up against me, his wings like pillows against my side, as close as we would get tonight, and I would take it without complaint.
“Yes.” I nodded. Whether I could do this or not was irrelevant. I had to do it. If I didn’t, Dameon would eventually find me alone, and that would be it. I would end. I had to put a stop to this now. Tonight would be my moment to shine, to put right everything I had put so terribly wrong.
“Are you ready?” Kian glanced at Samuel, who wore a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, making him appear more buff than usual. A pair of dark jeans and a dark baseball cap finished off his bad-boy street look.
“Anytime,” Sam grunted with a glare. As much as Sam knew Kian was on our side, he couldn’t bring himself to fully accept him. After all, Kian would be leading me, his ‘lil’ sis’, into the arms of a demon, and Kian, for better or for worse, was also my boyfriend. Then Samuel looked at me and his eyes widened in surprise; they never left mine as Kian picked us both up into his white-winged arms and flew us out into the heavenly clouded skies.
When we finally landed a few blocks from the River Side trail, I trembled. It was now or never. I would soon be staring at the demon Dameon face to face. Wrapping his arm over my shoulder, Kian squeezed me once before planting an open wet kiss on my cheek. A few feathers fell from his wings to the concrete path below us.
“You will do fine. You will be fine. I’ll be right here. We all will be right here.” Kian glanced over at Samuel and then skyward. I saw a hint of a wing sparkle behind a cloud, and I knew that Nathaniel, Krysta and Jacob were close. Before leaving me alone, Kian stared at me. His eyes narrowed and simmered into my own like one long hot bath. Then he sprang into the sky and vanished.
Samuel stood several yards away from me and winked once before I turned away from him to walk my destined path. I had to create distance between me and Samuel, me and any other human, to become this vulnerable lure, this bait that would draw Dameon to me, to his eventual end.
After five minutes I glanced around to see Samuel far behind me, more like a silhouette of him really. Strolling past a kissing couple, I skirted around a corner and stepped up my pace. The cool weather rushed a chill down my spine as goose bumps and hair stood on my arms.
Ten minutes later I found myself without any human contact. Walkers, couples, angels, brothers...they had all disappeared. Just me, the trail, and the Hudson River to my left. I leaned against a large elm tree, resting my palm against the bark. I took a few deep breaths and heard a growl.
My skin crawled as I heard my name whispered in the wind.
“Allison.” Dameon taunted me.
I jerked my body around and saw no one, nothing but the river. Blackness covered the distance and the sky. The only light, the sliver of the moon’s reflection danced on the surface of the water. A few leaves blew over the ground in a sudden gust of wind.
“Allison.”
I jerked back around and again saw nothing but the darkness.
“Where are you? Show yourself, you coward!” I screamed.
Something scratched my neck softly from behind, causing me to shiver and jump at the same time. When my body spun around I balled my fists and found my feet cemented in place.
“Where are you?” My vigilant eyes searched all directions, but this enemy might as well have been a shadow.
“Allison.” The taunting grew louder, and something that could have been a long fingernail scratched my shoulder blade.
“Damn you, Dameon!” I shouted. I stomped of my foot. The muscles in my face twitched and my brows arched.
“Dameon? Who is he, my dear?” The voice sounded as scratchy as the nail on my skin felt, and then the intruder jumped down from his clandestine spot high in the trees and landed with a thud in front of me. A black cloak wrapped around his dark attire, and raven black hair spiked around his head. Pale blue eyes honed in on my own until he opened his mouth, and all I could see was his fangs. A fanged demon. Shit!
I backed up, only to stumble into the grove of elms. “What do you want?” Why isn’t Dameon here? I wanted to ask.
“Your blood, of course.” Licking his lips, he acted like a vampire, but I knew his tactic was simple. Either he knew my name from Dameon and he wanted to scare me to death before Dameon came to kill me, or he wanted to kill me himself. But I had to keep my wits about me. He wasn’t a vampire, at least not in the same sense as mythology taught. He was a Fanged Demon bent on the hunger of the kill, weaker than a Dark Angel and yet still stronger than I.
My foot fumbled over the twigs and broken branches below me as my hands felt their way through the grove. The further into the grove I got, the further away from the trail I moved, and the closer to the Hudson River. I wondered when Kian and his gang would rescue me, but figured they still wanted to lure Dameon out and wouldn’t intervene until they saw him. I had to keep this going and buy time.
Within seconds the Fanged Demon appeared before me as if he were floating over the ground, and maybe he did. After all, he had only lost his gift, not his wings. I imagined somewhere underneath his boney arms resided a pair of black wings which could aid him in his movements.
“You don’t want to kill me. Dameon would be extremely upset with you. See, I’m his kill, not yours,” I bargained as I took another step backward.
Inching forward, he snarled. “Of course you belong to Dameon, but you see, my dear, Dameon has given me permission to rip you to shreds.”
Damn, he knew exactly who I was, and I’d have to think of some other way to save my skin.
“But doesn’t Dameon want the pleasure of killing me himself? I mean, after all the trouble I’ve caused him?” I asked. I was acutely aware of the rattle of wind through the grove.
“Yes, he’s told me about all your trouble. I’m going to have fun with this one.” The fangs protruded from his mouth like razors as he drew toward me. His black cloak made the attack seem all the more like the movie Vampire. Seething venomously, his open jaw reminded me of a cobra about to strike, and I spun around on the ball of my foot and thrust forward. Dirt churned under my feet as my legs moved faster than I ever knew possible.
But when I reached the edge of the grove, the Hudson River flowed past, a wall to end my escape, and in seconds the Fanged Demon flung himself close behind me.
“Escape is not an option. Just face your death, Allison.”
“It’s Ali!” I shouted stubbornly. Why couldn’t anyone get it straight? If I was going to die, it would be at least with my name preference!
Just when things could not get any worse, I saw out of the corner of my eye a furry beast which lunged and landed next to the Fanged Demon. A Were; just what I needed. As if the fanged monster were not enough! A grizzly growl resounded from its lupine facial features. A repugnant stench like rotting f
lesh scented his wolfish skin like profane perfume. Deep set, black eyes flicked toward the Fanged Demon, and they both grinned. The stain of blood embedded in the Were’s neck fur told me he had killed earlier.
Grass below my sneakers felt slippery, wet, surely frosting from the cold. My lips quivered as I bared my white teeth. The cold of the night crawled up my legs and arms and then up my neck. I had never felt colder. I swallowed my tears and tried to swallow my fear, but I had never felt more alone. When would Kian show up, and why hadn’t Samuel burst in here? I had to trust Kian, but it was proving challenging. After all, I had a Were and Fanged Demon on either side of me and the Hudson River behind me. The odds did not fall in my favor. Surely this had been Dameon’s plan all along...to let the Were rip me apart as the Fanged beast tore his blade-like teeth into my neck and chest.
Dameon had to be watching from somewhere. He would never miss this opportunity. But had Krysta tracked him yet?
Last Stand
As the last sliver of moon hid behind the branch of the elm tree, my last hint of light dissipated and the only hint of illumination came from the four monstrous eyes of the two demon creatures. One pair was pale blue and the other, stone black. Demons had a kind of star-shine quality to their eyes which glowed in the dark, I suppose like all predators who hunt at night: the lion, the alligator and hawk.
But I didn’t want demon eyes to be the last thing I ever saw.
Turning my head to the river, I watched the crests of waves lap against the riverbank. I looked back at the demons. One opened his mouth again and again, while the other flexed his arms and chest and growled. Death would be eminent if I didn’t do something fast.
“Feel free to squeal,” The vampire-wanna-be commented under his breath as he took a step in my direction. I could almost feel his pointy incisors on the skin of my neck before I whirled around and dove into the Hudson.
My head bobbed up and down as water rushed into my mouth. Shivering, I hugged myself as I floated downstream. Moonlight radiated over the grove I had left, and I saw Samuel pull out his gun and heard a shot. In the distance I also made out Krysta and Jacob as they jumped on top of the Were. I couldn’t see everything, but there was a rumble of bodies in the dark, and I heard a few hisses, growls, and then another gunshot. And then silence.
My body floated several yards down the Hudson before I drifted to shore and hauled myself out on the land. I shivered, and my lips must have purpled, but I still breathed. My pulse beat strong. The two monsters hadn’t killed me! I wrapped my arms around myself as I stumbled through the elm grove many yards away from where I had almost been attacked. Drenched in water, my sneakers squeaked with each step.
“Kian, where are you?” I whispered, hoping he’d finally hear me. I felt starved for him to be near, to touch me, to feel his warm presence.
Suddenly, a stream of grey-white fog swirled between my feet and up my ankles. I remembered that feeling so well. Closing my eyes, I let the fog encase me, all of me. If ever I needed Kian on me, it was now.
Soft to the skin’s touch, I felt the fog crawl up my leg and over my belly button, over my chest, breasts, and then my neck. It was as close as I could ever get to being one with Kian. My heart still pounded from my near-death experience, and now with Kian so close on me, my heart beat even faster. Death and ecstasy intermingled.
With the mist swirling around my neck I felt a tug. It felt tighter and tighter. Like a belt the fog fastened around my neck. When I felt myself unable to fully swallow, I fell to my knees. “Kian?” I could barely say his name. But as the fog manifested, I saw the outline of Dameon’s form standing before me, and his callous left hand secured itself around my supple neck. His right hand slapped me across my reddening cheek.
“You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long. It ends here.” He threw me backward while still holding onto my neck. My back popped as he released me.
Just like the first time he tried to kill me, he had the upper hand because of my foolish romantic notions. Dark, resigned eyes appeared dead to my sight as the grey light from the moon became anemic. The color in my face must have paled as I felt my pulse weaken.
He dropped me to the ground, and his foot crushed my back. As I squirmed on the dirty ground in the grove, my wet clothes took on patches of mud. I shook in fear as Dameon bared his sharp teeth. Fangs drew close to my neck. He must have killed more humans since last time I saw him, giving up his gift of fire for fangs. Just like his father, I guess, breaking all the rules governing the paranormals. The demon king, a Were...and his son the prince, a Fanged beast.
As Dameon’s fangs ripped into my neck like a careless lion, I saw my life flash before me, all the times I had spent with Kian, and then I saw the Were and Fanged Demon that were sent to kill me. Just like father and son.
As blood drained from my neck and I became too weak to stand, I struggled to keep my eyelids open, but I pushed myself upward enough to see out of the corner of my eyes. Suddenly, Nathaniel and Kian landed in the elm grove. White wings spanned from one tree to the next like a celestial dream.
Nathaniel threw out his arms, his hands open with palms facing Dameon. Within seconds shots of fire rang out from underneath his skin and moved in rhythmic wave patterns toward Dameon. In response, Dameon quickly dove into the moist dirt below him, his hands and knees scraping. The surge of fire rushed over his back, just missing him, but it managed to scorch his spine.
Squealing like a pig in pain, Dameon rolled over and jumped to his feet. His dead eyes searched out an elm branch dangling close by and, as he leapt for the elevated freedom, Nathaniel darted at him and hit Dameon squarely in the chest, knocking him over again onto the muddy ground. As they tumbled over each other, I heard a punch and then a rumble from the mud and, though I couldn’t see very well, I made out two dark shadows ripping into each other. They sounded like two rabid dogs. On occasion a flare of fire would shoot up, and I heard what I swear could have been fingernails scraping into skin.
As Nathaniel kept Dameon busy, Kian leapt to me and held my head, checking my wounds, putting light pressure on my throat, and even calling my name a few times, but I felt too weak to answer. “Damn it, Ali, say something!” he pleaded as I watched his elegant feathery wings undulate in the wind. “Keep your eyes open!” I blinked and tried to focus on his voice as I went in and out of consciousness.
Nathaniel beat his fists and legs into Dameon’s chest. But Dameon clawed at Nathaniel’s eyes with sharp hawk-like nails, leaving deep scratch marks. My eyes blinked shut, and I heard Kian shout Nathaniel’s name. “Nathaniel! Nooo!” Kian darted away from me.
Opening my eyes, I saw Kian leap onto Dameon and yank his neck backward. With Dameon’s sharp fingernails dug into Nathaniel face and his fangs deep in Nathaniel’s neck, I knew Nathaniel must have felt like me...like death had just crawled up inside him.
As blood leaked from Nathaniel, the color drained from his face. He must have looked like me, too: colorless. I tried to say something, to order Kian to take Nathaniel away from here and save him, to save himself. But no words came out of my frail lips. I only felt my blood draining from the gaping holes in my neck and watched the crimson color bleed over the muddy ground, making some kind of frosting I could have used on Christmas cupcakes. My mind felt hazy and vague.
But the silhouette of Kian lunged to his friend with an outstretched hand. He pulled Nathaniel up off the ground as Dameon laughed with the sound of a hyena. Blood dripped from Dameon’s fangs with each bone-chilling chuckle. His face looked half charcoaled, from Nathaniel’s fire thrower. But Nathaniel looked like a rag doll, unable to stand alone, dependent on Kian for movement. I felt so bad, so sorry. I wanted to do something, anything, but I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for more than thirty seconds.
All I could hear was the eerie guffaw of Dameon echo through the grove and through my thumping ears as my lids closed. Then I heard familiar voices.
“Where are you, Kian?” Krysta shouted from a few yards
away from me.
“He’s over here.” I heard Jacob.
“Where is my sister?” Samuel’s voice demanded.
Dameon hissed. “Make a choice. Me or your friend or Ali.” Dameon’s sinister plan turned my blood hot as my vision grew black.
Silence.
Then a rustling sound moved toward me.
“I’ll have the pleasure of killing you, Kian, another day.” Dameon’s words floated over me and then his presence disappeared, surely escaping somewhere into the sky.
I could not see a thing, not even with my eyes open. I couldn’t be sure if I even felt my body anymore. I know I couldn’t move my legs or arms.
“Where is she?” I heard Samuel cry.
“Stay away. It will do no good for you to see her like this.” Krysta said, and I heard bodies wrestle.
“I’ll hold him.” Jacob answered and there was another rustling sound.
“Ali!” Sam cried, and I wanted to cry back to him.
Nothing came out.
“Ali, Ali?” Kian shook me.
“She is going to die if we don’t do something now,” Krysta whispered over me.
Die?
“You must use me, use my wings.” Nathaniel’s voice sounded like an angel mature beyond his years.
“Use you?” Kian snapped. “That will kill you.”
“I’m dead in minutes anyway. I’ve lost too much blood from my back, from my neck. I am too weak.”
“Don’t say that!” Kian barked. “We can get you back to the mansion. Sammael will heal you.”
“I’m too far gone, and what about Ali? What doctor can repair her damage? We would never get her the help she needs in time.”
“But...” Kian’s tears fell over my neck and rolled down my chest. The only sensation I could still feel.
Krysta touched my wrist. “Her heartbeat is fading fast. We have to do something!”
“I’ve always been different.” Nathaniel confessed. “The only angel with the gift of fire. What if I was created to save Ali.” He declared this like a fact, not a question. Then I heard a loud rip.
She Speaks to Angels: YA Angel Thriller (AngelFire Chronicles Bk #1) Page 23
