The City of Flame and Shadow

by Kim Richardson

  Claws ripped at her back. She felt searing pain in her left shoulder as talons hooked her. With a powerful force, she was heaved backwards. Her feet left solid ground, and she was airborne. The world tilted, and her scream died in her throat.

  Alexa watched as Milo’s form got smaller and smaller. She heard screams, but she couldn’t tell if they were her own or Milo’s. The fear in his eyes, fear for her, kicked her into action.

  Shaking out of her numbness, Alexa squirmed in the hellwing’s grasp, her cheek grazing the flesh of one of the thing’s legs. It was wet and smelled of rot and diseased flesh. She punched the creature’s underbelly over and over again, her eyes watering at the smell, but the demon never faltered. Still Milo’s shape was getting smaller. The sky fell around her, and then she saw a glimpse of Milo in a blur of ash and wings and teeth.

  If the thing let her go now, she wasn’t sure she’d survive the fall. She was hundreds of feet in the air, and she’d never fallen from this height before.

  Over the beating of wings and the rush of air, she heard Milo’s scream. It punctured a hole in her that wasn’t the talons’ doing.

  She had to get to him. If he died, it would be her fault.

  The hellwing let out a fierce cry that reverberated over every stone of purgatory, an echo of victory that it had caught its prey.

  They were soaring higher and higher until Alexa couldn’t recognize anything. She couldn’t see the army of the dead, and she couldn’t see Milo.

  Gritting her teeth, she grabbed hold of the hellwing’s right foot with both hands and pulled as hard as she could, tearing at her own flesh in the process. She heard the rip and nearly gagged as white-hot pain exploded on her shoulder. She felt herself drop twelve inches lower and dangle at an angle. The creature’s left leg was the only thing keeping her from plummeting to the ground.

  The hellwing screeched as it hovered, snapping at her with its right leg, trying to impale her with its sharp talons.

  Alexa snatched the thing’s right leg with her right hand, and then with her trembling left hand, she began yanking feverishly at the creature’s left leg. Her eyes welled with tears at the pain, as she severed her own flesh—

  And then she was falling.

  With her clothes and hair flapping around her, Alexa began to think maybe her escape in midair wasn’t such a good idea. Through squinted eyes she saw the ash-covered ground coming fast, incredibly fast. It appeared that gravity existed it purgatory.

  Fear crawled into her stomach, twisting it, and she knew her body would never recover from such a fall. It would shatter on impact, like a tomato splattering on a concrete block.

  There would be nothing left of her, nothing left to avenge herself, to stop Hades.

  Alexa swung her head around trying to locate Milo, knowing that any second now she would be nothing but an angel pudding mess, but all there was ash and rock and…

  Water.

  She hit the black waters like a large and weighty stone into a stagnant pool, sinking to the bottom as though an invisible force was pushing her. She tried to flail her arms and legs to stop her descent, but the speed of her fall was too strong. She could barely lift her arms. Her old fears of water came back to her in a rush, filling her with an epic panic.

  She was going to drown…

  But she couldn’t drown, she heard that little voice inside her head. Angels couldn’t drown. She had faced this fear before and conquered it. And just as the thoughts filled her mind, she felt them strip away from her like an old layer of skin, only to be replaced by a different fear—the fear of being trapped in purgatory for all eternity.

  She peeled her eyelids open to reveal darkness and nothingness. The water wasn’t clear and light but thick and dark like oil. Something was very wrong with the water. It wasn’t cold or hot but impenetrable and suffocating as it coiled around her, trying to get into her mouth. There was something evil inside the water, a familiar poison, like the one from a death blade. It was as though the very blades had been forged in these black waters.

  On and on she went, pulled deeper and deeper into the bottomless lake. She felt the full weight of the collar for the first time. It felt like it had magnified its weight a hundred times, to the equivalent of a having a grown person sitting on her shoulders.

  It was pulling her down on purpose.

  Alexa unleashed that familiar, writhing anger. She was not about to give up.

  With a burst of strength, she kicked her legs in scissor-like motions while her arms batted awkwardly by her sides. She was a terrible swimmer. Still, she kicked and kicked hoping she was going up and not deeper into the bottomless lake because she couldn’t tell up from down.

  After what felt like hours of kicking, her thighs burned with the effort. Alexa slowed her kicks. She was tiring, growing clumsy—

  She broke the surface of the lake. Strings of black water fell in her eyes as she blinked and looked around. She started to sink again and had to keep kicking hard to keep her head just above the water. She could feel liquid in her eardrums, clogging them and drowning her hearing.

  At first all she could see was the endless black water, swollen and rising from every direction. Then through her blurred vision, she could make out a rock-lined shore of the lake. Alexa kicked through the oil-like waters, her legs still burning in protest as she swam towards the only shore in sight.

  The air moved above her, and Alexa looked up to find a dozen hellwings gliding through the sky. Her insides twisted as one dove towards her, turning and dropping fast with its claws outstretched. It banked and dove straight for her, sharp talons gleaming before her eyes—and pulled up.

  Over and over again, it was like watching an air show. The hellwings dove towards her head and pulled up at the very last minute, never touching her.

  They never came closer than four feet to the water’s surface and her. It was almost as though they were avoiding the water. They didn’t want to touch it or come too close.

  Alexa didn’t have the energy to wonder why that was. She only wanted to reach the shore before her M-suit gave out.

  After a few strokes, she heard the sounds of battle clashing in the distance—the familiar sounds of fists hitting flesh, the howls of beasts, and the grunts of a male angel.

  Alexa splashed around in the direction of the noise. Behind her, at a much greater distance, which would explain why she’d missed it, was another shoreline. In the midst of clouds of dust and ash and demons—was a glowing green collar. She could barely make out the tall angel, but there was a flash of pale skin and dark clothes. It was him.

  Milo was alive.

  Buckets of relief poured through her at the sight of the angel. He swung his arms as though he had his sabers, and that’s when Alexa noticed that he had two large shards of black rock, sharp and deadly, and was using them like knives. The dead surrounded him, thrashing their limbs and trying to get ahold of him, but they never did. Even the hellwings swooped down when his back was turned, only to screech out in surprise as he slashed their throats.

  He moved like a midnight storm—punch after punch, block, lunge, duck, spin. A dead leaped at him, but he parried the attack while spinning. Black blood shot onto his hand as he stabbed the dead in the eye. He was a blur of limbs and blows and darkness.

  Milo seemed to have sensed her and turned around. Their eyes locked, and even in the distance she saw the relief on his face. The black water was all over her face and she didn’t want to open her mouth and call out for fear it would go into her mouth. She wanted to wave, but it took all her strength just to keep kicking, to keep herself afloat. And she was tired… so tired… If she stopped she would sink, and this time she didn’t think she’d have the energy to keep swimming.

  Suddenly Milo was running towards her, flailing his arms in the air. He was shouting something but she couldn’t make it out over the buzzing in her ears. And just when she realized he was pointing at something behind her, she saw a shadow of fear cross his features.
/>   With great effort, Alexa kicked and splashed herself around.

  But it wasn’t the hellwings fluttering overhead that froze her limbs as panic flooded her veins. It was the creature that emerged from the water.

  CHAPTER 22

  ALEXA COULD ONLY SEE THE thing’s head and part of its torso, if that was even how it could be described. Its small head was covered in milky-white eyes, and its skin was bone-white, with a suction-cup-like mouth full of teeth. It was the most nightmarish thing she’d ever seen.

  Vaguely humanoid, but equally misshapen, a lumpy body slowly drifted towards her, through a column of twisting, whirling black water.

  The last of Alexa’s courage fell out of her to be replaced by pure, unthinking terror. She turned to one side and gauged the distance between herself and the shore where Milo was still running. The distance was too great. She’d never make it before the creature devoured her.

  The only way out was to go around the creature and back towards the shore she’d been swimming for. But the white demon was only fifty feet from her and closing the distance fast.

  Thick, pale liquid spewed from its mouth. It thrusted its small head back and made a sound between a howl and a suction noise like water from a drain.

  Alexa was swimming again. With her eyes on the shore behind the creature, she kicked as fast as she could, redoubling her efforts as she willed her tired legs to kick faster, and faster.

  From the corner of her eye, she could see the white thing, the white demon as it thrashed in the water angrily, realizing that she was making for the shore…

  If only she could make it to the shore. With her feet on solid ground, at least she’d have a fighting chance.

  She swam for what felt like hours, but then her feet touched solid ground. She was pulling herself out of the water, and then she was running on the ash and rock landscape. Glowing white embers sparked up between fissures in the black granite ground, multiplied into many stabbing, darting flames. A loud shuffling sound came up behind her, and she knew the creature had made it to the shore. But Alexa didn’t have time to turn around and look. She had to find a weapon to use, something to protect herself.

  Her ribs bleated in agony as she scrambled away as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the white demon. She searched the grounds, her mind pounding with exertion, but she saw nothing but ash and rock, nothing she could use as a weapon. Her mind raced, considering her options. How could she defeat a demon with her bare hands?

  Her boot caught a fracture in the hard granite, sending a long piece loose the size of a small dagger. She halted and bent down to snatch it up—

  She slammed into the ground, her hip colliding painfully with the rock surface. Desperately, she reached back and snagged the loose rock again. Ignoring the pain in her knees and hands and the terror that pulsed through her, she twisted herself around on the ground.

  The white demon stood before her. She could see its lumpy, deformed body clearly now. Its long arms grazed the ground with suction cups at the ends of them instead of hands. Its legs were short with webbed feet.

  And then it spoke inside her head.

  At last, an angel soul all to myself. It laughed in a hoarse yet familiar voice, advancing again. You have delivered to me that which is mine. Your soul. I can feel the power of it. It’s marvelous. Do yourself a favor and give up. There’s nowhere to go. You’ll never complete the trials.

  Alexa pushed herself up and held the sharp shard in front of her like a dagger. “I don’t give up that easily, demon, even if these trials are rigged. I’m going to finish them. You can count on it.”

  You can’t complete the trials if I devour your soul, said the demon with a taunting voice.

  Alexa gritted her teeth against the pain in her back where she suspected the demon had taken a bite out of her. “I’m going to complete them. Right after I kill you.” She surveyed the creature with a mix of apprehension and disgust. “What kind of demon are you anyway?” When it didn’t answer she added, “Do you have a name?”

  I have no name, nor do I need one.

  A hellwing screeched high above her. Alexa braced herself for the winged beast’s talons, but it circled above them instead, gliding in a gust of wind. The other hellwings flew in a circle shrieking, like a murder of crows alerting a predator.

  Alexa tried to ignore the hellwings as she said, “Do you know how to complete the first trial? Does it have something to do with this collar? Do you know how to remove it?” She doubted it was going to give her a straight answer, but at this point she was desperate to try anything.

  The demon cocked its head to the side. Your questions are meaningless. There is no way for you to escape me, not even through death. You will be mine. Forget the trials. You will never complete them. You are weaponless and I can sense your angel life diminishing. Admit defeat. You have lost.

  “I have not lost,” said Alexa angrily. Not yet, she thought.

  The white demon twisted itself and thrust out an arm.

  Alexa leaped to the side, barely missing the teeth-infested suction cup. She spun and hacked at the thing’s flesh with her shard.

  Liquid boiled from its white flesh, like beads of sweat. Small plumes of black smoke spiraled from where she’d cut it, bringing with it the stench of burning hair.

  The white demon growled and blinked its many eyes, its great muscles flexing. It hissed at her.

  You are a fool, angel. You cannot defeat me with that rock. You’ve failed. I will draw out your soul like the sucking of water through a straw. Oh, it will be painful, painful for you, but terribly delightful for me.

  The demon’s many eyes were pinned on her. Its mouth was a suction cup, but Alexa could swear it was leering at her. It settled low onto his haunches, preparing to attack. She knew the stone in her hand was no match for the white demon. And it knew it too. She was his prey. Not an opponent or a real challenge.

  Alexa drew her makeshift weapon. It wasn’t even close to a dagger, but it was the best she had. She would not show fear to this demon. She stared him down.

  The hellwings had gone silent. Alexa rotated her weapon.

  “Come on, you ugly, white bastard.”

  The demon lunged in a blur of white limbs, suction cup maws and teeth.

  Alexa had to pitch herself sideways onto the ground to avoid its mouth. She was up in a second, parrying its mouths at the end of its hands with her tiny rock.

  But she wasn’t fast enough. One of its arms wrapped around her chest, and she felt teeth sink into her flesh. The creature was so close she could smell the carrion on its breath.

  Alexa stabbed it in quick successions until it let go.

  She stumbled back. Her stomach throbbed, and she felt liquid trickle down her abdomen. She felt dizzy, nauseated, too small and too large all at once. She was sweating, and the sweat on her chest felt uncomfortably like angel essence. She raised the rock in her hand, but a sick feeling rushed through her so powerful that her muscles slackened and she nearly dropped it. She had no strength. Her legs stumbled, but she stayed upright as she dared a glance at the demon, at the suction cups at the ends of its hands, and at the clear liquid that dripped from them—venom.

  The white demon began laughing, and she felt the reverberations of its steps as it walked around her, taunting her.

  Is this all you have to offer? The Legion are fools to send a child angel as their champion. Fools. But lucky for me.

  A cold sweat formed on her forehead. Her weapon slipped in her hand, and she had to concentrate to keep from dropping it.

  Tired already? asked the demon. You are even weaker than I thought.

  “Screw you,” growled Alexa.

  The demon came at her. She had no choice but to meet its blows, but she barely had the strength to raise her weapon each time. How much longer did she have? How fast would the venom work? If the demon’s bite had been a lethal dose, she’d have been dead by now. The demon’s venom was just enough to disorient her, not to kill,
not yet.

  Alexa blinked. She couldn’t focus, and her body became cold and limp.

  Swallowing her scream of frustration, she blinked through her tears and felt the collar around her neck tighten, squeezing her like a noose.

  She dared a glance over her shoulder to the other side of the lake, but all she could see was a moving wall of the dead, Milo was gone.

  A trickle of fear formed in the back of her mind. Milo…

  The demon turned, fast as a spring, and hurled itself at her again.

  But Alexa wouldn’t surrender to her fear.

  I will not be afraid. I am an angel.

  Full of rage, she took off, sprinting across the hard surface before she launched herself at it, meeting it head on. She hit it with everything she had, punching with her left, stabbing with her right, never stopping as she jumped and spun around the demon like a top.

  She leapt back a step, slicing open the demon’s arm with the broken end of the shard, ripping through muscle and fluid. He swatted at her with his other arm, but she moved aside, cutting its chest as well.

  The demon cried out, thrashing wildly, and it lunged just as Alexa jumped back. She was getting the hang of it. Her tiny rock was as sharp as any soul blade. She almost smiled.

  You think you can defeat me? said the demon, and Alexa sensed the annoyance in its voice. I doubt your little pebble would greatly increase your chances of success. You are no champion. You are nothing… a newly born angel that is about to die—

  It struck in a blur of limbs and teeth.

  Alexa had enough sense to whirl to avoid the venomous maws, but she was caught by one of its arms on the side and went flying. Her shard was wrenched from her grip as she pitched forward and hit the dirt. She slid, her face scraping on the sharp rocks.

  You have failed the first trial. You will never return to Horizon. Your soul is mine.

  The demon circled her, its white eyes surveying her and its mouth moving mechanically as though it was preparing to taste her flesh. It was drawing out the inevitable, a predator playing with its kill before eating it, savoring every moment.