A Touch Menacing

by Leah Clifford

  “You were at Kristen’s,” Jackson said. Eden didn’t like the violent, reckless edge to his words.

  “Jackson—” She seized the back of his shirt as he stepped toward the angel, but he ripped away.

  “Did you kill Madeline?”

  “I don’t answer to you,” Michael said. It was all the answer Jackson needed. He let loose a primal scream and leaped, but Michael was ready. His fist slammed into Jackson’s jaw, dropping him before he had a chance to react.

  “Stop!” Sullivan cried, but the plea only brought on a kick that cracked Jackson’s ribs.

  “Do you not see the chaos your kind has caused?” Michael took a step back. “The fate of mortal souls at your fingertips and still you seem to think this unholy existence is your privilege?”

  In one lithe movement, his fist plunged, breaking through Jackson’s chest in a spray of gore. Shock froze Eden as Michael yanked his hand free. Something glowed in his hand. Then flames broke out and fire dripped between his fingers. The drops hissed as they died on the cold floorboards.

  As the last bits dimmed, Michael vanished, reappearing a split second later looking down at them from the room above. “I won’t be led astray,” he said, his voice echoing through the silent room. “I’m stronger than the others.”

  Eden didn’t dare release the cry she was holding in until she was sure he was gone. On the floor, a pile of ash was all that remained of Jackson.

  Behind her, she heard Rachel collapse. And beside her, Sullivan hadn’t moved. Eden stepped in front of her. Her eyes were glassy. “Sullivan,” Eden said. “Hey.”

  Eden sank slowly and pulled her knees into her chest. Already, she’d started to shiver again. “Az is coming,” she whispered.

  I will not die here.

  Someone shook Eden awake. She drew a breath to scream, but a frigid hand slammed over her mouth.

  “Someone’s coming!” Rachel whispered.

  Eden listened. Footsteps. Don’t be Michael, she thought. Please don’t be Michael.

  Sullivan’s hand found hers. “It’s Jarrod. I know it.”

  None of them dared move. Eden concentrated on the noises. At least two of them, she thought, but there was another sound. Are they dragging someone? Her heart thumped hard enough that she heard it echo in her ears. Don’t be him, Eden begged silently, hoping Sullivan’s wish for Jarrod would go unanswered. If they’d caught him, then that meant they’d gotten Az, too. And Kristen. What if Jarrod and Kristen were already turned to ash?

  “Please don’t hurt me,” a boy cried. Eden hated herself for the relief she felt when she didn’t recognize the voice.

  Rachel started to move, but Eden stopped her. A muffled argument drifted down to them.

  Then a body hit the floor at Sullivan’s feet. It was a guy, his face hidden as he struggled to his knees. He spotted them and froze.

  “For the Sider who poisons Downstairs.” The words thundered. She felt Sullivan tremble. “We’ve been told you must be fed. The boy is yours.”

  Eden balked. She raised her hands, palms out, to the poor kid. We’re not going to hurt you. He seemed to get the message.

  A whispered argument bounced off the walls, layered, the words indecipherable. A Bound blinked into the space beside Eden. Before she could scream, he had her by the neck, dragging her across the floor, away from Sullivan and Rachel. “End him, and we’ll spare your friend,” the Bound told Sullivan. “For the moment.”

  “No,” Sullivan said. “I don’t feed. I don’t need him.”

  Another angel appeared a few feet from Rachel. Gasping, she clung to Sullivan.

  The arm around Eden’s neck was slick with a thin sheen of sweat. The quick flutter of his heart pulsed against her shoulder blade and an idea stirred. She didn’t hold on to it, so that none of the Bound could catch it from her mind. “Sullivan, listen to me. You can do this.”

  “The fuck she can!” the boy screamed.

  The arm around Eden’s neck tightened. She didn’t struggle; instead, she kept as calm as she could manage and thought of sunshine and the ocean, the snow outside, the coldness of her toes inside her shoes.

  Eden turned her head a fraction of an inch. “It’s us or him, Sullivan!”

  “No!” She stared at Eden in horror.

  On the floor, the boy moved backward to put as much space between him and Sullivan as he could. One of the Bound strode toward him.

  “Do it, Sullivan!” Eden screamed. The arm around her neck loosened just a bit as she strained forward. The extra inch was all she needed.

  Without warning, Eden twisted and slammed her lips against the angel’s. He jerked away, but not before she felt the tingle of Touch sliding out of her, into him.

  Eden screamed and drove the palm of her hand into his nose. Back when she’d kissed Az, before they knew better, the Touch she’d passed him had overwhelmed him, the effect instant as his darkest thoughts multiplied. They’d almost lost him to the Fall. Now, she watched this angel’s fear spinning out of control as she charged toward her friends.

  The other angel backed away. “You poisoned him!”

  “Get out!” Eden roared, clenching her fists.

  The angel she’d dosed disappeared. His partner glanced from Eden to Sullivan to the boy, who was still on the floor, looking dazed. Rachel cowered in the shadows. Eden strode toward the angel. “You’re next,” she said.

  And he was gone.

  Holy shit, it worked, she thought, slowly relaxing her fingers. The last of her adrenaline drained away as the boy got to his feet.

  Sullivan tiptoed closer, concern in her eyes. “They’ll be back, Eden. They’re going to come back, and now they’re going to kill us for sure.”

  Eden sat down and crossed her arms over her knees. “They’re going to try. And when they do, I will fight them with every breath and every bone left in my body,” she said. A dizzy wave rolled over her, and she lowered her head. She wasn’t sure if she should ask Rachel to dose her or if it was just the fight running out of her. “I’m not going out like this. Neither are you two.”

  There was an awkward moment of silence before she looked up again. “You either, kid,” she told the boy.

  He managed a smile. “I thought you wanted her to take me out,” he said, pointing to Sullivan. “That was a trick? Badass.”

  “They can read minds. I just kind of went for it without planning.” Eden turned her head to the side and laid it back on her arms. “It won’t work again. So we’d better start thinking about our next trick.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Eden had memorized what she could of the building the Bound dragged her into two hours ago. She’d counted eight flights of stairs before they’d marched her out of the stairwell. The center of the building was open, the empty space surrounded on each floor on four sides by a balcony that led off to rooms. Eden and the other Siders’ dragged footsteps sent chunks of debris tumbling beyond the railing, falling to the floor so far below. Above, an impressive atrium of glass and metal let in the late-afternoon light. Bound angels had lined floors and floors of railings like sentinels. You hurt us and I’ll rip your throats out. Two of them flinched at the viciousness of her thought, and she was surprised to find pity in the eyes that dared meet hers.

  Then they’d dumped Eden and the others down here in this pit.

  The floorboards underneath her were wet and warped. The door and windows had been covered over with thick crisscrossing layers of barbed wire, cemented to the walls to hold them in place. Eden’s fingers bled where she’d tried to rip it loose. The ceiling was partially collapsed, making it the only opening in the room. The Bound had taken their phones, their jackets, and their gloves.

  Jackson hadn’t made a sound in almost an hour. Sullivan cried quietly. Only Rachel seemed alert, staring at Eden as if expecting her to have some sort of escape plan. Yeah, right, Eden thought.

  Just out of sight, one of the Bound paced in the room above. She heard him, making his rounds every few minutes. E
den had tucked everyone into the alcove underneath what remained of the ceiling. She lay still, a hand between the floor and her cheek. I’ve got to do something.

  “Get up, guys,” she said through chattering teeth. “We need to walk.”

  No one moved. She forced herself to stand. “Sullivan, now.”

  The sobs slowed to hiccups as Sullivan got to her feet. Eden limped to Jackson. He didn’t acknowledge her, just stared out from his spot against the wall. Dried blood ran a broken trail down his face. She gently flaked off what she could. The wound itself had healed quickly with all the Touch he carried, but he seemed disoriented. “Just a little longer. Az will come for us,” she said. “Jarrod, too.”

  He hadn’t responded to any previous attempt to draw him out, but this time he focused. “Maddy won’t.”

  Eden wrapped her arms around him, and was surprised when he hugged her back.

  “You really think we’re going to get out of here?” he asked. His expression was bleak.

  “Az will come for us,” she repeated. No matter how bad things got, she knew Az and Jarrod wouldn’t rest. She squeezed Jackson tighter. I will not die here, she promised herself.

  When Eden stepped back and started pacing, Jackson followed a few steps behind. Rachel stayed at his side, helping him along. The room wasn’t large, but doing something—even walking in circles—would keep them from feeling so utterly hopeless.

  “Stay around the edges,” Eden said as she fell in beside Sullivan. Sullivan nodded, and Eden lowered her voice. “The Bound are keeping us alive for a reason. If they wanted us dead, they would have done it already.”

  A sudden chuckle echoed through the room. In the threshold above, an angel glared down at them. “Such a foolish deduction,” he said.

  Eden recognized him as the one who had tormented Az at Rockefeller Center. It seemed like months ago they’d run into him at near the tree, but it hadn’t even been two weeks. Michael. He blinked out above and reappeared in the room with them. Sullivan pressed against Eden, and they backed away slowly.

  “You.” Eden’s voice wavered. Michael jutted his head out, crooked it to the side. The movement was reptilian, horrible. “Gabe’s our friend. He’ll be upset if you hurt us.”

  His lips peeled back in a grimace. “Do not call him unproper. Gab-ri-el. Once your kind is exterminated, he will be whole again. And when you fall to ash, he will be mine.”

  Eden held an arm over the others, keeping them behind her. “He’s no one’s but his own. And he’d never be with anyone who would hurt his friends.”

  Michael’s agitation only worsened. “Silence. You speak aloud of things you know not.”

  “We didn’t do anything to you!” Jackson broke in. He pushed in front of Eden as Michael twisted around. “Why are you doing this? You’re supposed to be the good guys!”

  Michael sidled closer. “Your kind is born of corrosion and putrescence. Souls perish at your touch and you celebrate with pageantry and fine dresses?” He sneered, incredulous. “You dare beg mercy?”

  “You were at Kristen’s,” Jackson said. Eden didn’t like the violent, reckless edge to his words.

  “Jackson—” She seized the back of his shirt as he stepped toward the angel, but he ripped away.

  “Did you kill Madeline?”

  “I don’t answer to you,” Michael said. It was all the answer Jackson needed. He let loose a primal scream and leaped, but Michael was ready. His fist slammed into Jackson’s jaw, dropping him before he had a chance to react.

  “Stop!” Sullivan cried, but the plea only brought on a kick that cracked Jackson’s ribs.

  “Do you not see the chaos your kind has caused?” Michael took a step back. “The fate of mortal souls at your fingertips and still you seem to think this unholy existence is your privilege?”

  In one lithe movement, his fist plunged, breaking through Jackson’s chest in a spray of gore. Shock froze Eden as Michael yanked his hand free. Something glowed in his hand. Then flames broke out and fire dripped between his fingers. The drops hissed as they died on the cold floorboards.

  As the last bits dimmed, Michael vanished, reappearing a split second later looking down at them from the room above. “I won’t be led astray,” he said, his voice echoing through the silent room. “I’m stronger than the others.”

  Eden didn’t dare release the cry she was holding in until she was sure he was gone. On the floor, a pile of ash was all that remained of Jackson.

  Behind her, she heard Rachel collapse. And beside her, Sullivan hadn’t moved. Eden stepped in front of her. Her eyes were glassy. “Sullivan,” Eden said. “Hey.”

  Eden sank slowly and pulled her knees into her chest. Already, she’d started to shiver again. “Az is coming,” she whispered.

  I will not die here.

  Someone shook Eden awake. She drew a breath to scream, but a frigid hand slammed over her mouth.

  “Someone’s coming!” Rachel whispered.

  Eden listened. Footsteps. Don’t be Michael, she thought. Please don’t be Michael.

  Sullivan’s hand found hers. “It’s Jarrod. I know it.”

  None of them dared move. Eden concentrated on the noises. At least two of them, she thought, but there was another sound. Are they dragging someone? Her heart thumped hard enough that she heard it echo in her ears. Don’t be him, Eden begged silently, hoping Sullivan’s wish for Jarrod would go unanswered. If they’d caught him, then that meant they’d gotten Az, too. And Kristen. What if Jarrod and Kristen were already turned to ash?

  “Please don’t hurt me,” a boy cried. Eden hated herself for the relief she felt when she didn’t recognize the voice.

  Rachel started to move, but Eden stopped her. A muffled argument drifted down to them.

  Then a body hit the floor at Sullivan’s feet. It was a guy, his face hidden as he struggled to his knees. He spotted them and froze.

  “For the Sider who poisons Downstairs.” The words thundered. She felt Sullivan tremble. “We’ve been told you must be fed. The boy is yours.”

  Eden balked. She raised her hands, palms out, to the poor kid. We’re not going to hurt you. He seemed to get the message.

  A whispered argument bounced off the walls, layered, the words indecipherable. A Bound blinked into the space beside Eden. Before she could scream, he had her by the neck, dragging her across the floor, away from Sullivan and Rachel. “End him, and we’ll spare your friend,” the Bound told Sullivan. “For the moment.”

  “No,” Sullivan said. “I don’t feed. I don’t need him.”

  Another angel appeared a few feet from Rachel. Gasping, she clung to Sullivan.

  The arm around Eden’s neck was slick with a thin sheen of sweat. The quick flutter of his heart pulsed against her shoulder blade and an idea stirred. She didn’t hold on to it, so that none of the Bound could catch it from her mind. “Sullivan, listen to me. You can do this.”

  “The fuck she can!” the boy screamed.

  The arm around Eden’s neck tightened. She didn’t struggle; instead, she kept as calm as she could manage and thought of sunshine and the ocean, the snow outside, the coldness of her toes inside her shoes.

  Eden turned her head a fraction of an inch. “It’s us or him, Sullivan!”

  “No!” She stared at Eden in horror.

  On the floor, the boy moved backward to put as much space between him and Sullivan as he could. One of the Bound strode toward him.

  “Do it, Sullivan!” Eden screamed. The arm around her neck loosened just a bit as she strained forward. The extra inch was all she needed.

  Without warning, Eden twisted and slammed her lips against the angel’s. He jerked away, but not before she felt the tingle of Touch sliding out of her, into him.

  Eden screamed and drove the palm of her hand into his nose. Back when she’d kissed Az, before they knew better, the Touch she’d passed him had overwhelmed him, the effect instant as his darkest thoughts multiplied. They’d almost lost him to the Fall.
Now, she watched this angel’s fear spinning out of control as she charged toward her friends.

  The other angel backed away. “You poisoned him!”

  “Get out!” Eden roared, clenching her fists.

  The angel she’d dosed disappeared. His partner glanced from Eden to Sullivan to the boy, who was still on the floor, looking dazed. Rachel cowered in the shadows. Eden strode toward the angel. “You’re next,” she said.

  And he was gone.

  Holy shit, it worked, she thought, slowly relaxing her fingers. The last of her adrenaline drained away as the boy got to his feet.

  Sullivan tiptoed closer, concern in her eyes. “They’ll be back, Eden. They’re going to come back, and now they’re going to kill us for sure.”

  Eden sat down and crossed her arms over her knees. “They’re going to try. And when they do, I will fight them with every breath and every bone left in my body,” she said. A dizzy wave rolled over her, and she lowered her head. She wasn’t sure if she should ask Rachel to dose her or if it was just the fight running out of her. “I’m not going out like this. Neither are you two.”

  There was an awkward moment of silence before she looked up again. “You either, kid,” she told the boy.

  He managed a smile. “I thought you wanted her to take me out,” he said, pointing to Sullivan. “That was a trick? Badass.”

  “They can read minds. I just kind of went for it without planning.” Eden turned her head to the side and laid it back on her arms. “It won’t work again. So we’d better start thinking about our next trick.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Kristen dragged her fork through the plate of noodles in front of her. None of them had bothered to eat. They’d only picked the restaurant because of its lack of windows, the high booths that cut off any easy view of them from the entry.

  Gabriel had met them on the street outside and pulled Az away without a word. They’d been too far away for Kristen to hear their exchange. She could only see Az shaking his head, horror-struck. Is it Eden? Kristen wondered. Finally Az came back, sitting in a sort of stunned silence. When Kristen had asked him what was wrong, he’d glanced up at her. His irises had gone nearly black.